diff --git a/bot_bottle/backend/docker/gateway.py b/bot_bottle/backend/docker/gateway.py
index 71d630d4..4d591dac 100644
--- a/bot_bottle/backend/docker/gateway.py
+++ b/bot_bottle/backend/docker/gateway.py
@@ -144,19 +144,33 @@ class DockerGateway(Gateway):
             # by older releases. Replace it below.
             stale = True
         else:
-            # inspect failed: either the network is absent (create it below) or
-            # it exists but docker can't parse it. A daemon that default-enables
-            # IPv6 attaches an fdd0::/64 subnet whose `::1/64` gateway trips
-            # docker's own netip.ParseAddr in `network inspect`/`ls`, so the
-            # command exits non-zero. A fixed release never *creates* such a
-            # network, but one can survive on a shared host from an older or
-            # concurrent launch — and `--ipv6=false` alone can't heal it, since
-            # the create below only no-ops on "already exists". Force-replace it
-            # so later reads (e.g. `_network_cidr` pinning a source IP) stop
-            # failing. An absent network's inspect error is "No such network";
-            # anything else means it exists but is poisoned.
+            # inspect failed. Classify by stderr — do NOT assume "not absent"
+            # implies "poisoned": a transient daemon/API error, permission
+            # failure, timeout, or bad context also fails here, and destroying
+            # the shared gateway on that guess would tear the network out from
+            # under every live bottle.
             err = inspected.stderr.lower()
-            stale = "no such network" not in err and "not found" not in err
+            if "no such network" in err or "not found" in err:
+                # Absent: nothing to replace — create it below.
+                stale = False
+            elif "parseaddr" in err:
+                # Present but poisoned. A daemon that default-enables IPv6
+                # attaches an fdd0::/64 subnet whose `::1/64` gateway trips
+                # docker's own netip.ParseAddr in `network inspect`/`ls`, so the
+                # command exits non-zero with that signature. A fixed release
+                # never *creates* such a network, but one can survive on a
+                # shared host from an older or concurrent launch — and
+                # `--ipv6=false` alone can't heal it, since the create below only
+                # no-ops on "already exists". Force-replace it so later reads
+                # (e.g. `_network_cidr` pinning a source IP) stop failing.
+                stale = True
+            else:
+                # Unrecognized failure: no evidence the network is malformed.
+                # Surface it rather than mutate shared state on a guess.
+                raise GatewayError(
+                    f"gateway network {self.network} could not be inspected: "
+                    f"{inspected.stderr.strip()}"
+                )
         if stale:
             # Migrate the stale/poisoned network. Removing the fixed gateway is
             # safe here: this launch recreates it.
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_orchestrator_gateway.py b/tests/unit/test_orchestrator_gateway.py
index cc48e8c2..03b0b370 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_orchestrator_gateway.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_orchestrator_gateway.py
@@ -303,6 +303,33 @@ class TestDockerGateway(unittest.TestCase):
         creates = [c for c in calls if c[:3] == ["docker", "network", "create"]]
         self.assertEqual(1, len(creates))
 
+    def test_ensure_running_does_not_destroy_on_generic_inspect_error(self) -> None:
+        # A generic inspect failure (daemon hiccup, permission, timeout) is NOT
+        # evidence of a poisoned network. Only the ParseAddr poison signature may
+        # take the destructive heal path; anything else must surface as an error
+        # without tearing down a possibly-healthy shared gateway.
+        calls: list[list[str]] = []
+
+        def fake(argv: list[str], **_kw: object) -> Mock:
+            calls.append(argv)
+            if argv[:2] == ["docker", "ps"]:
+                return _proc(stdout="")
+            if argv[:3] == ["docker", "network", "inspect"]:
+                return _proc(
+                    returncode=1,
+                    stderr="Cannot connect to the Docker daemon at unix:///var/run/docker.sock",
+                )
+            return _proc()
+
+        with patch(_RUN_DOCKER, side_effect=fake):
+            with self.assertRaises(GatewayError):
+                self.sc.connect_to_orchestrator(_ORCH_URL, _TOKEN)
+        # No mutation of the shared gateway: neither the container nor the
+        # network is removed, and nothing is recreated.
+        self.assertNotIn(["docker", "network", "rm", self.sc.network], calls)
+        self.assertFalse(any(c[:3] == ["docker", "rm", "--force"] for c in calls))
+        self.assertEqual([], [c for c in calls if c[:3] == ["docker", "network", "create"]])
+
     def test_ca_cert_pem_reads_from_container(self) -> None:
         with patch(_RUN_DOCKER, return_value=_proc(stdout=_CA_PEM)) as m:
             self.assertEqual(_CA_PEM, self.sc.ca_cert_pem())