Row about German cat (5)
I believe the answer is:
tiger
'cat' is the definition.
(I know that tiger is a type of cat)
'row about german' is the wordplay.
'row' becomes 'tier' (a tier is a row of things).
'about' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'german' becomes 'g' (abbreviation).
'tier' enclosing 'g' is 'TIGER'.
(Other definitions for tiger that I've seen before include "Large wild cat" , "Large cat with black stripes" , "One noted for stripes" , "Large feline of the forests" , "Ferocious cat" .)