diff --git a/internals/overlord/logstate/clienterr/clienterr.go b/internals/overlord/logstate/clienterr/clienterr.go
index be76b6e25..c756ae136 100644
--- a/internals/overlord/logstate/clienterr/clienterr.go
+++ b/internals/overlord/logstate/clienterr/clienterr.go
@@ -28,6 +28,10 @@ Errors in this package should be pattern-matched using errors.As:
 package clienterr
 
 import (
+	"bytes"
+	"fmt"
+	"io"
+	"net/http"
 	"time"
 )
 
@@ -45,15 +49,33 @@ func (e *Backoff) Error() string {
 	return errStr
 }
 
-// Timeout should be returned if the client's Flush times out.
-type Timeout struct {
-	Err error
+// ErrorResponse represents an HTTP error response from the server
+// (4xx or 5xx).
+type ErrorResponse struct {
+	StatusCode int
+	Body       bytes.Buffer
+	ReadErr    error
 }
 
-func (e *Timeout) Error() string {
-	return "client flush timed out: " + e.Err.Error()
+func (e *ErrorResponse) Error() string {
+	errStr := fmt.Sprintf("server returned HTTP %d\n", e.StatusCode)
+	if e.Body.Len() > 0 {
+		errStr += fmt.Sprintf(`response body:
+%s
+`, e.Body.String())
+	}
+	if e.ReadErr != nil {
+		errStr += "cannot read response body: " + e.ReadErr.Error()
+	}
+	return errStr
 }
 
-func (e *Timeout) Unwrap() error {
-	return e.Err
+// ErrorFromResponse generates a *ErrorResponse from a failed *http.Response.
+// NB: this function reads the response body.
+func ErrorFromResponse(resp *http.Response) *ErrorResponse {
+	err := &ErrorResponse{}
+	err.StatusCode = resp.StatusCode
+	_, readErr := io.CopyN(&err.Body, resp.Body, 1024)
+	err.ReadErr = readErr
+	return err
 }
diff --git a/internals/overlord/logstate/gatherer.go b/internals/overlord/logstate/gatherer.go
index e674cd70e..d290471f8 100644
--- a/internals/overlord/logstate/gatherer.go
+++ b/internals/overlord/logstate/gatherer.go
@@ -214,12 +214,6 @@ func (g *logGatherer) handleClientErr(err error) {
 		return
 	}
 
-	timeout := &clienterr.Timeout{}
-	if errors.As(err, &timeout) {
-		logger.Noticef("Target %q: %v", g.targetName, err)
-		return
-	}
-
 	logger.Noticef("Cannot flush logs to target %q: %v", g.targetName, err)
 }
 
diff --git a/internals/overlord/logstate/loki/loki.go b/internals/overlord/logstate/loki/loki.go
index db09cd105..885167309 100644
--- a/internals/overlord/logstate/loki/loki.go
+++ b/internals/overlord/logstate/loki/loki.go
@@ -18,16 +18,15 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
-	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
-	"net"
 	"net/http"
 	"sort"
 	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 
+	"github.com/canonical/pebble/cmd"
 	"github.com/canonical/pebble/internals/overlord/logstate/clienterr"
 	"github.com/canonical/pebble/internals/plan"
 	"github.com/canonical/pebble/internals/servicelog"
@@ -98,12 +97,11 @@ func (c *Client) Flush(ctx context.Context) error {
 		return fmt.Errorf("creating HTTP request: %v", err)
 	}
 	httpReq.Header.Set("Content-Type", "application/json; charset=utf-8")
-	//httpReq.Header.Set("User-Agent", ???) TODO
-	//httpReq.Header.Set("Accept", ???) TODO
+	httpReq.Header.Set("User-Agent", fmt.Sprintf("pebble/%s", cmd.Version))
 
 	resp, err := c.httpClient.Do(httpReq)
 	if err != nil {
-		return handleHTTPClientErr(err)
+		return err
 	}
 	return c.handleServerResponse(resp)
 }
@@ -151,15 +149,6 @@ type stream struct {
 
 type lokiEntry [2]string
 
-func handleHTTPClientErr(err error) error {
-	var netErr net.Error
-	if errors.As(err, &netErr) && netErr.Timeout() {
-		return &clienterr.Timeout{Err: err}
-	}
-
-	return err
-}
-
 func (c *Client) handleServerResponse(resp *http.Response) error {
 	defer func() {
 		// Drain request body to allow connection reuse
@@ -181,12 +170,7 @@ func (c *Client) handleServerResponse(resp *http.Response) error {
 
 	case code >= 400:
 		// Request to Loki failed
-		b, err := io.ReadAll(io.LimitReader(resp.Body, 1024))
-		if err != nil {
-			b = append(b, []byte("//couldn't read response body: ")...)
-			b = append(b, []byte(err.Error())...)
-		}
-		return fmt.Errorf("cannot send logs to Loki (HTTP %d), response body:\n%s", resp.StatusCode, b)
+		return clienterr.ErrorFromResponse(resp)
 	}
 
 	return nil
diff --git a/internals/overlord/logstate/loki/loki_test.go b/internals/overlord/logstate/loki/loki_test.go
index e146e66c4..29e9ca92b 100644
--- a/internals/overlord/logstate/loki/loki_test.go
+++ b/internals/overlord/logstate/loki/loki_test.go
@@ -172,8 +172,7 @@ func (*suite) TestFlushCancelContext(c *C) {
 		defer cancel()
 
 		err := client.Flush(ctx)
-		timeout := &clienterr.Timeout{}
-		c.Assert(errors.As(err, &timeout), Equals, true)
+		c.Assert(err, ErrorMatches, ".*context deadline exceeded.*")
 		close(flushReturned)
 	}()
 
@@ -203,8 +202,7 @@ func (*suite) TestServerTimeout(c *C) {
 	c.Assert(err, IsNil)
 
 	err = client.Flush(context.Background())
-	timeout := &clienterr.Timeout{}
-	c.Assert(errors.As(err, &timeout), Equals, true)
+	c.Assert(err, ErrorMatches, ".*context deadline exceeded.*")
 }
 
 func (*suite) TestTooManyRequests(c *C) {