Irritable, as I tangled with four cats (9)
I believe the answer is:
fractious
'irritable' is the definition.
(I know that irritable can be written as fractious)
'i tangled with four cats' is the wordplay.
'tangled with' indicates anagramming the letters.
'four'+'cats'='fourcats'
'i' with its letters mixed up with 'fourcats' can make 'FRACTIOUS'.
'as' is the link.
(Other definitions for fractious that I've seen before include "Grumpy" , "Fretful" , "Cross and quarrelsome" , "Difficult to control; irritable" , "Testy" .)