diff --git a/zuul-core/src/main/java/com/netflix/zuul/netty/connectionpool/ClientTimeoutHandler.java b/zuul-core/src/main/java/com/netflix/zuul/netty/connectionpool/ClientTimeoutHandler.java
index 725587efc6..157602b7f6 100644
--- a/zuul-core/src/main/java/com/netflix/zuul/netty/connectionpool/ClientTimeoutHandler.java
+++ b/zuul-core/src/main/java/com/netflix/zuul/netty/connectionpool/ClientTimeoutHandler.java
@@ -22,10 +22,11 @@
 import io.netty.channel.ChannelPromise;
 import io.netty.handler.codec.http.LastHttpContent;
 import io.netty.util.AttributeKey;
-import java.time.Duration;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 
+import java.time.Duration;
+
 /**
  * Client Timeout Handler
  *
@@ -57,15 +58,21 @@ public static final class OutboundHandler extends ChannelOutboundHandlerAdapter
         @Override
         public void write(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, ChannelPromise promise) throws Exception {
             try {
+                if (!(msg instanceof LastHttpContent)) {
+                    return;
+                }
+
                 final Duration timeout =
                         ctx.channel().attr(ORIGIN_RESPONSE_READ_TIMEOUT).get();
-                if (timeout != null && msg instanceof LastHttpContent) {
+                if (timeout != null) {
                     promise.addListener(e -> {
-                        LOG.debug(
-                                "[{}] Adding read timeout handler: {}",
-                                ctx.channel().id(),
-                                timeout.toMillis());
-                        PooledConnection.getFromChannel(ctx.channel()).startReadTimeoutHandler(timeout);
+                        if (e.isSuccess()) {
+                            LOG.debug(
+                                    "[{}] Adding read timeout handler: {}",
+                                    ctx.channel().id(),
+                                    timeout.toMillis());
+                            PooledConnection.getFromChannel(ctx.channel()).startReadTimeoutHandler(timeout);
+                        }
                     });
                 }
             } finally {
diff --git a/zuul-core/src/test/java/com/netflix/zuul/netty/connectionpool/ClientTimeoutHandlerTest.java b/zuul-core/src/test/java/com/netflix/zuul/netty/connectionpool/ClientTimeoutHandlerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..bff5a94719
--- /dev/null
+++ b/zuul-core/src/test/java/com/netflix/zuul/netty/connectionpool/ClientTimeoutHandlerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,131 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2024 Netflix, Inc.
+ *
+ *      Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ *      you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ *      You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *          http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *      Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *      distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *      WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *      See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *      limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package com.netflix.zuul.netty.connectionpool;
+
+import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelDuplexHandler;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelPromise;
+import io.netty.channel.embedded.EmbeddedChannel;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.http.DefaultHttpContent;
+import io.netty.handler.codec.http.DefaultLastHttpContent;
+import io.netty.util.ReferenceCountUtil;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.AfterEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.BeforeEach;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
+import org.mockito.Mock;
+import org.mockito.junit.jupiter.MockitoExtension;
+
+import java.time.Duration;
+import java.time.temporal.ChronoUnit;
+
+import static org.mockito.ArgumentMatchers.any;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.never;
+import static org.mockito.Mockito.verify;
+
+/**
+ * @author Justin Guerra
+ * @since 7/30/24
+ */
+@ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
+class ClientTimeoutHandlerTest {
+
+    @Mock
+    private PooledConnection pooledConnection;
+
+    private EmbeddedChannel channel;
+    private WriteVerifyingHandler verifier;
+
+    @BeforeEach
+    public void setup() {
+        channel = new EmbeddedChannel();
+        channel.attr(PooledConnection.CHANNEL_ATTR).set(pooledConnection);
+        verifier = new WriteVerifyingHandler();
+        channel.pipeline().addLast(verifier);
+        channel.pipeline().addLast(new ClientTimeoutHandler.OutboundHandler());
+    }
+
+    @AfterEach
+    public void cleanup() {
+        channel.finishAndReleaseAll();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void dontStartReadTimeoutHandlerIfNotLastContent() {
+        addTimeoutToChannel();
+        channel.writeOutbound(new DefaultHttpContent(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("yo".getBytes())));
+        verify(pooledConnection, never()).startReadTimeoutHandler(any());
+        verifyWrite();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void dontStartReadTimeoutHandlerIfNoTimeout() {
+        channel.writeOutbound(new DefaultLastHttpContent());
+        verify(pooledConnection, never()).startReadTimeoutHandler(any());
+        verifyWrite();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void dontStartReadTimeoutHandlerOnFailedPromise() {
+        addTimeoutToChannel();
+
+        channel.pipeline().addFirst(new ChannelDuplexHandler() {
+            @Override
+            public void write(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, ChannelPromise promise) {
+                ReferenceCountUtil.safeRelease(msg);
+                promise.setFailure(new RuntimeException());
+            }
+        });
+        try {
+            channel.writeOutbound(new DefaultLastHttpContent());
+        } catch (RuntimeException e) {
+            // expected
+        }
+        verify(pooledConnection, never()).startReadTimeoutHandler(any());
+        verifyWrite();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void startReadTimeoutHandlerOnSuccessfulPromise() {
+        Duration timeout = addTimeoutToChannel();
+        channel.writeOutbound(new DefaultLastHttpContent());
+        verify(pooledConnection).startReadTimeoutHandler(timeout);
+        verifyWrite();
+    }
+
+    private Duration addTimeoutToChannel() {
+        Duration timeout = Duration.of(5, ChronoUnit.SECONDS);
+        channel.attr(ClientTimeoutHandler.ORIGIN_RESPONSE_READ_TIMEOUT).set(timeout);
+        return timeout;
+    }
+
+    private void verifyWrite() {
+        Assertions.assertTrue(verifier.seenWrite);
+    }
+
+    private static class WriteVerifyingHandler extends ChannelDuplexHandler {
+        boolean seenWrite;
+
+        @Override
+        public void write(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg, ChannelPromise promise) throws Exception {
+            seenWrite = true;
+            super.write(ctx, msg, promise);
+        }
+    }
+}