Christopher gets numbers of small pets (7)
I believe the answer is:
kittens
'small pets' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both animals as well as being plural nouns.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'christopher gets numbers' is the wordplay.
'christopher' becomes 'Kit' (short for Christopher).
'gets' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'numbers' becomes 'tens' (ten is a kind of number).
'kit'+'tens'='KITTENS'
'of' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for kittens that I've seen before include "Young cats" , "Feline young" , "Have such pets" , "Young felines" , "Feline youngsters" .)