European abandoning a preference to get cat only with difficulty (2,1,7)
I believe the answer is:
at a stretch
'with difficulty' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
I cannot understand how the rest of the clue works.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for at a stretch that I've seen before include "Running, possibly" , "With much effort" , "With difficulty; without interruption" , "in one continuous period" .)