Said it's an irritation: the vet can treat it (4)
I believe the answer is:
peke
'vet can treat it' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'said it's an irritation' is the wordplay.
'said' shows a homophone (sound like).
'it's an irritation' becomes 'pique' ('pique' can be a synonym of 'irritation').
'pique' sounds like 'PEKE'.
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for peke that I've seen before include "Breed of dog (shortened)" , "Small snub-nosed dog" , "Sort of lapdog" , "Snub-nosed lap-dog (colloq.)" , "Small breed of dog" .)