Cat seems out to adopt independent attitude initially (7)
I believe the answer is:
siamese
'cat' is the definition.
(Siamese is an example)
'seems out to adopt independent attitude initially' is the wordplay.
'out' is an anagram indicator (out can mean wrong or inaccurate).
'to adopt' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'initially' says to take the initial letters.
The first letters of 'independent attitude' is 'ia'.
'seems' with letters rearranged gives 'smese'.
'smese' going around 'ia' is 'SIAMESE'.
(Other definitions for siamese that I've seen before include "like a cat" , "Cat - Thai?" , "Pugnacious aquarium species -- shagginess, if I'm thief (anag)" , "cats?" , "Thease twins are joined at birth" .)