A HEARTBROKEN pet owner is suing her vet over the death of a two-year-old cockatiel.

Patrice Kinloch, 26, has raised a court action for #750 damages to compensate her for the trauma she and her family have suffered over the loss of Jinky, named after Jimmy Johnstone, Celtic's legendary winger of the 1960s and 70s.

She has also lodged a formal complaint with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons in London.

''I cannot tell you how big a part this bird played in our lives. It was as if there had been a death in the family,'' said Ms Kinloch, who has another bird named after the former Celtic star, Pierre van Hooijdonk.

In legal papers served on Glasgow vets James M Taylor and Partners last week, Ms Kinloch alleges that her prized bird received improper care when she took it to their surgery last month with an allergic reaction to a treatment for mites.

Ms Kinloch claims vet Eilidh Shearer injected Jinky and two other infected birds - Pierre and Paddy - with Ivermectin, described in her legal papers as an ''unlicensed product''.

All three birds suffered an extreme reaction to the injections and appeared to go into anaphylactic shock.

Ms Kinloch, an unemployed honours graduate from Simshill, in Glasgow, said: ''We went to bed although nobody in my family could sleep for worry.

''After a long and worrying night, my brother, Jason, went down the next morning to check on the birds.

''I cannot make it clear enough to you that our birds were an integral part of our daily lives and family. We were devastated to discover that Jinky had died during the night, on his own.''

Fortunately, Pierre and Paddy went on to make a good recovery, although Ms Kinloch fears the whole affair may have changed their personalities.

She said she is taking legal action only to highlight the treatment handed out to her pet. ''Even if I go to court and lose, I just want these vets to know that you can't treat people like this and simply dismiss it,'' she said.

''If something could have been done to save Jinky, I would happily have paid for the treatment for the rest of my life . . . even if it had cost #10,000.

''Jinky simply did not know he was a bird. He thought he was a wee person.''

The Veterinary Defence Society has accepted liability on behalf of their members, James Taylor and Partners, who have surgeries in Rutherglen, Cathkin, Clarkston, East Kilbride and Eaglesham. They say that under the law, there is no precedent for having to pay compensation for the loss of a pet. The only legal requirement is for them to give Ms Kinloch back what she had before.

Their claims consultant, John Houlton, wrote to solicitors acting for Ms Kinloch: ''In this case, your client would have been in possession of a cockatiel with a skin affliction.''