Possessive adjective with multiple nouns

Question

How would you change (gender and number) a possessive adjective that is followed by two nouns with different genders?

For example:

Está en casa con nuestr_ perro y gata.

Would it be...

• "nuestros perro y gata" (because the first is masculine and the second is feminine and masculine always takes prescedence).
• "nuestro perro y gata" (because it adapts to the first noun, although I am 99% positive this is wrong, since it leaves the cat unlabeled)
• "nuestro perro y nuestra gata" (I know for sure this is correct, but is there a way to be less repetitive and include it all together in one possessive adjective?)

"Nuestra libertad e independencia..."- en este caso no utilizamos el plural y se entiende "nuestra libertad y nuestra independencia". Según mi opinión "nuestro perro y gata" es correcto. - pecseli, Mar 27, 2012

Nuestras manos y pies can be used though mano is feminine while pie is masculine. - pecseli, Mar 27, 2012

pero bueno, libertad e independencia son femeninas las dos. - missy8888, Mar 27, 2012

Eso ejemplo de manos/pies es interesante. Así podía ser la respuesta correcta. Porque no lo escribes como respuesta? - missy8888, Mar 27, 2012

Answer 1

Hi, Missy.

It took me a few minutes but I found it on one of my favorite sites for Spanish:

Repetition of possessive adjectives: In English, it common to use a single possessive adjective to refer to more than one noun. In Spanish, a single possessive adjective can refer to only one noun, unless the multiple nouns refer to the same persons or objects.

For example, "son mis amigos y hermanos" would mean "they are my friends and siblings" (with the friends and the siblings being identical persons), while "son mis amigos y mis hermanos" would mean "they are my friends and siblings" (the friends not being the same people as the siblings). Similarly, "my cats and dogs" would be translated as "mis gatos y mis perros."

Answer 2

Generally the male is dominant.

Ellos can mean all men or a mixture of men and women.

Queremos mucho a nuestros hijos - We love our children very much. This will be the same if the children are all males or a mixture of males and females.

Sorry, but this doesn´t answer my question at all. I am referring to a very specific instance. - missy8888, Mar 27, 2012