Turns up with a mother cat (4)
I believe the answer is:
puma
'cat' is the definition.
(I know that puma is a type of cat)
'turns up with a mother' is the wordplay.
'turns' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'with' says to put letters next to each other.
'a mother' becomes 'ma' (ma can mean mother).
'up' written backwards gives 'pu'.
'pu'+'ma'='PUMA'
(Other definitions for puma that I've seen before include "Mountain lion" , "Large American cat" , "South American cat" , "American wild cat" , "Panther" .)