A VETERINARY nurse at a private clinic in Glasgow who deliberately poisoned her pet dog in a bizarre case of animal cruelty has been spared jail.

Georgina Bretman, 28, injected her black-and-white cocker spaniel, Florence, with a drug that made the animal collapse and suffer from convulsions and seizures.

The damage was so severe that the two-year-old dog could have ended up in a coma or even dead.

Bretman, who worked for Kinning Park-based Pets A & E, was convicted - after a trial at Glasgow Sheriff Court - of causing the animal unnecessary suffering on June 23, 2013 by injecting her with insulin.

Although no explanation was offered as to why the vet nurse harmed her pet, the court was told that she was an “attention seeker.”

On one occasion, her employer gave Bretman an evening off - then correctly predicted that, within a few hours, the dog would suddenly become ill and be brought back to the surgery requiring emergency treatment.

The case is understood to be the first prosecution and conviction of its kind of an owner harming their dog in such a way.

Sheriff Joan Kerr found Bretman, of Rhu, Helensburgh, guilty of a charge under the Animal Health and Welfare Act.

Bretman was handed a community payback order as a “direct alternative” to jail, with the condition she must carry out 140 hours of unpaid work.

She was also handed a two-year ban on owning dogs.

Florence has been under the care of the SSPCA since the allegations against Bretman came to light and has since returned to good health.