diff --git a/app/controllers/pets_controller.rb b/app/controllers/pets_controller.rb
index bf65dc62..cebe7c03 100644
--- a/app/controllers/pets_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/pets_controller.rb
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 class PetsController < ApplicationController
   rescue_from Pet::PetNotFound, :with => :pet_not_found
-  rescue_from PetType::DownloadError, SwfAsset::DownloadError, :with => :download_error
+  rescue_from PetType::DownloadError, SwfAsset::DownloadError, :with => :asset_download_error
+  rescue_from Pet::DownloadError, :with => :pet_download_error
   
   cache_sweeper :user_sweeper
   
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ class PetsController < ApplicationController
       :status => :not_found
   end
   
-  def download_error(e)
+  def asset_download_error(e)
     Rails.logger.warn e.message
     pet_load_error :long_message => "We found the pet all right, but the " +
       "Neopets image server didn't respond to our download request. Maybe it's " +
@@ -55,6 +56,14 @@ class PetsController < ApplicationController
       :status => :gateway_timeout
   end
   
+  def pet_download_error(e)
+    Rails.logger.warn e.message
+    pet_load_error :long_message => "Could not connect to the Neopets server " +
+      "to look up the pet. Maybe they're down. Try again later, maybe. Sorry!",
+      :short_message => 'Neopets seems down. Try again?',
+      :status => :gateway_timeout
+  end
+  
   def pet_load_error(options)
     respond_to do |format|
       format.html do
diff --git a/app/models/pet.rb b/app/models/pet.rb
index 8115e911..27e6e655 100644
--- a/app/models/pet.rb
+++ b/app/models/pet.rb
@@ -22,7 +22,9 @@ class Pet < ActiveRecord::Base
       if e.message == PET_NOT_FOUND_REMOTE_ERROR
         raise PetNotFound, "Pet #{name.inspect} does not exist"
       end
-      raise
+      raise DownloadError, e.message
+    rescue RocketAMF::RemoteGateway::ConnectionError => e
+      raise DownloadError, e.message
     end
     contents = OpenStruct.new(envelope.messages[0].data.body)
     pet_data = OpenStruct.new(contents.custom_pet)
@@ -88,4 +90,5 @@ class Pet < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
   
   class PetNotFound < Exception;end
+  class DownloadError < Exception;end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/pet_type.rb b/app/models/pet_type.rb
index c449c21e..f87f07bd 100644
--- a/app/models/pet_type.rb
+++ b/app/models/pet_type.rb
@@ -109,7 +109,11 @@ class PetType < ActiveRecord::Base
   before_save do
     if @origin_pet
       cpn_uri = URI.parse sprintf(IMAGE_CPN_FORMAT, @origin_pet.name);
-      res = Net::HTTP.get_response(cpn_uri)
+      begin
+        res = Net::HTTP.get_response(cpn_uri)
+      rescue Exception => e
+        raise DownloadError, e.message
+      end
       unless res.is_a? Net::HTTPFound
         begin
           res.error!
diff --git a/app/models/swf_asset.rb b/app/models/swf_asset.rb
index 5bbdef79..b9b68ab5 100644
--- a/app/models/swf_asset.rb
+++ b/app/models/swf_asset.rb
@@ -82,7 +82,11 @@ class SwfAsset < ActiveRecord::Base
   
   before_create do
     uri = URI.parse url
-    response = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
+    begin
+      response = Net::HTTP.get_response(uri)
+    rescue Exception => e
+      raise DownloadError, e.message
+    end
     if response.is_a? Net::HTTPSuccess
       new_local_path = File.join(LOCAL_ASSET_DIR, local_path_within_outfit_swfs)
       new_local_dir = File.dirname new_local_path
diff --git a/lib/rocketamf/remote_gateway/request.rb b/lib/rocketamf/remote_gateway/request.rb
index 3c442f07..8747fb23 100644
--- a/lib/rocketamf/remote_gateway/request.rb
+++ b/lib/rocketamf/remote_gateway/request.rb
@@ -19,7 +19,11 @@ module RocketAMF
         else
           req = Net::HTTP::Post.new(uri.path)
           req.body = data
-          res = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port).start { |http| http.request(req) }
+          begin
+            res = Net::HTTP.new(uri.host, uri.port).start { |http| http.request(req) }
+          rescue Exception => e
+            raise ConnectionError, e.message
+          end
           case res
           when Net::HTTPSuccess
             response_body = res.body
@@ -30,13 +34,13 @@ module RocketAMF
             rescue Exception => scoped_error
               error = scoped_error
             end
-            raise ConnectionError, "Error connecting to gateway: #{error}"
+            raise ConnectionError, error.message
           end
         end
         begin
           result = RocketAMF::Envelope.new.populate_from_stream(response_body)
         rescue Exception => e
-          raise ConnectionError, "Error parsing gateway response: #{e.message}"
+          raise ConnectionError, e.message
         end
         first_message_data = result.messages[0].data
         if first_message_data.respond_to?(:[]) && first_message_data[:code] == ERROR_CODE
@@ -66,7 +70,15 @@ module RocketAMF
       end
     end
     
-    class ConnectionError < RuntimeError;end
+    class ConnectionError < RuntimeError
+      def initialize(message)
+        @message = message
+      end
+      
+      def message
+        "Error connecting to gateway: #{@message}"
+      end
+    end
     class AMFError < RuntimeError
       DATA_KEYS = [:details, :line, :code]
       attr_reader *DATA_KEYS