Learn Russian: Это дом и кот. - This is a house and a cat.

When you use Это to say "This is..." or "These are...", it acts as a fixed introductory word. In this role, it always stays Это, no matter if the things you are pointing out are masculine, feminine, neuter, or even plural!

Where are the words for "is" and "a" in this sentence?

Russian does not use the verb "to be" in the present tense, so the word "is" is simply skipped. Additionally, the Russian language does not have articles like "a", "an", or "the". Because of this, дом means "a house" and кот means "a cat" all on their own.

How is the о at the end of Это pronounced here?

Because the stress falls on the first syllable (Э), the о at the end is unstressed. In Russian, an unstressed о is pronounced like a short "ah" or "uh" sound (similar to the "a" in "sofa"). The whole word sounds roughly like "eh-tuh".

Does кот mean any cat, or specifically a male cat?

The word кот specifically refers to a male cat (a tomcat). If you are talking about a female cat, or just a cat in general where you don't know the gender, you would typically use the feminine word кошка.