Cat embracing sloth's a thing (7)
I believe the answer is:
liaison
'a thing' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both related to communication as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps you can see an association between them that I can't see?
'cat embracing sloth's' is the wordplay.
'cat' becomes 'lion' (lion is a kind of cat).
'embracing' is an insertion indicator.
'sloth's' becomes 'ai's' (ai is a kind of sloth).
'lion' going around 'ais' is 'LIAISON'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for liaison that I've seen before include "Usually secretive or illicit relationship" , "Collaboration" , "Channel of communication" , "Intermediary" , "Secret love affair" .)