Vet softly probing small creature (7)
I believe the answer is:
inspect
'vet' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'softly probing small creature' is the wordplay.
'softly' becomes 'p'.
'probing' means one lot of letters goes inside another (probe can mean to make a hole in).
'small creature' becomes 'insect' (I've seen this before).
'p' going inside 'insect' is 'INSPECT'.
(Other definitions for inspect that I've seen before include "Go over" , "Scrutinise" , "Examine or survey" , "Look over carefully" , "Look at closely" .)