Salad leaves fed a pet (6)
I believe the answer is:
caress
'pet' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'salad leaves fed a' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'cress' is a valid word 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 caress that I've seen before include "Stoke affectionately" , "Embrace with affection" , "Scares into handle lovingly" , "Gentle stroke" , "Tenderly stroke" .)