Find equipment and tense abruptly, seeing small animals (7)
I believe the answer is:
kittens
'animals' is the definition.
(kitten is a kind of animal)
'find equipment and tense abruptly seeing small' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'equipment' could be 'kit' (kit is a kind of equipment) and 'kit' is found in the answer.
'and' could be 'n' (common abbreviation for 'and') and 'n' is present in the answer.
'tense' could be 't' (abbreviation used in many dictionaries) and 't' is present in the answer.
'small' could be 's' (abbreviation - e.g. clothes size) and 's' is located in the answer.
A single letter 'e' remains 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 kittens that I've seen before include "Young cats" , "Feline youngsters" , "Feline young" , "Young felines" , "Young rabbits" .)