Crossword Genius

Animal Cleo and Pat trained together (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

polecat

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'animal' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'cleo and pat trained together' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
an anagram of 'cleo' is 'olec' which is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'pat' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for polecat that I've seen before include "American skunk" , "Malodorous carnivore" , "Smelly American mammal" , "Beast of weasel family" , "Kind of weasel, called skunk in America" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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