diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index aa98751..0808c09 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -10,7 +10,11 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 
 ## \[Unreleased\]
 
-(none)
+<!-- (none) -->
+
+### Changed
+
+- Renamed `exceptions.PubSubInvalid` -> `exceptions.CloudConnectionError`, repurposed for more general use.
 
 ## \[v0.3.5\] - 2024-07-01
 
diff --git a/pittgoogle/exceptions.py b/pittgoogle/exceptions.py
index f60b710..e8a427a 100644
--- a/pittgoogle/exceptions.py
+++ b/pittgoogle/exceptions.py
@@ -3,12 +3,13 @@ class BadRequest(Exception):
     """Raised when a Flask request json envelope (e.g., from Cloud Run) is invalid."""
 
 
+class CloudConnectionError(Exception):
+    """Raised when a problem is encountered while trying to a Google Cloud resource."""
+
+
 class OpenAlertError(Exception):
     """Raised when unable to deserialize a Pub/Sub message payload."""
 
 
-class PubSubInvalid(Exception):
-    """Raised when an invalid Pub/Sub configuration is encountered."""
-
 class SchemaNotFoundError(Exception):
     """Raised when a schema with a given name is not found in the registry."""
diff --git a/pittgoogle/pubsub.py b/pittgoogle/pubsub.py
index 1bec5b0..48c4638 100644
--- a/pittgoogle/pubsub.py
+++ b/pittgoogle/pubsub.py
@@ -23,9 +23,10 @@
 from attrs.validators import gt, instance_of, is_callable, optional
 from google.api_core.exceptions import NotFound
 
+# [FIXME] clean up these imports
+from . import exceptions
 from .alert import Alert
 from .auth import Auth
-from .exceptions import PubSubInvalid, SchemaNotFoundError
 
 LOGGER = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 PACKAGE_DIR = importlib.resources.files(__package__)
@@ -67,9 +68,13 @@ def pull_batch(
     if isinstance(subscription, str):
         subscription = Subscription(subscription, **subscription_kwargs)
 
-    response = subscription.client.pull(
-        {"subscription": subscription.path, "max_messages": max_messages}
-    )
+    try:
+        response = subscription.client.pull(
+            {"subscription": subscription.path, "max_messages": max_messages}
+        )
+    except NotFound:
+        msg = "Subscription not found. You may need to create one using `pittgoogle.Subscription.touch`."
+        raise exceptions.CloudConnectionError(msg)
 
     alerts = [
         Alert.from_msg(msg.message, schema_name=schema_name) for msg in response.received_messages
@@ -235,7 +240,7 @@ def publish(self, alert: "Alert") -> int:
         # schema exists so we can be lenient and just fall back to json instead of raising an error.
         try:
             alert.schema
-        except SchemaNotFoundError:
+        except exceptions.SchemaNotFoundError:
             avro_schema = None
         else:
             if alert.schema.survey in ["elasticc"]:
@@ -345,7 +350,7 @@ def touch(self) -> None:
         `google.api_core.exceptions.NotFound`
             if the subscription needs to be created but the topic does not exist in Google Cloud.
 
-        `pittgoogle.exceptions.PubSubInvalid`
+        `pittgoogle.exceptions.CloudConnectionError`
             if the subscription exists but it is not attached to self.topic and self.topic is not None.
         """
         try:
@@ -353,10 +358,10 @@ def touch(self) -> None:
             LOGGER.info(f"subscription exists: {self.path}")
 
         except NotFound:
-            subscrip = self._create()  # may raise TypeError or NotFound
+            subscrip = self._create()  # may raise TypeError or (topic) NotFound
             LOGGER.info(f"subscription created: {self.path}")
 
-        self._set_topic(subscrip.topic)  # may raise PubSubInvalid
+        self._set_topic(subscrip.topic)  # may raise CloudConnectionError
 
     def _create(self) -> pubsub_v1.types.Subscription:
         if self.topic is None:
@@ -377,10 +382,9 @@ def _set_topic(self, connected_topic_path) -> None:
                 "The subscription exists but is attached to a different topic.\n"
                 f"\tFound topic: {connected_topic_path}\n"
                 f"\tExpected topic: {self.topic.path}\n"
-                "Either point to the found topic using a keyword argument or"
-                "delete the existing subscription and try again."
+                "Either point to the found topic or delete the existing subscription and try again."
             )
-            raise PubSubInvalid(msg)
+            raise exceptions.CloudConnectionError(msg)
 
         # if the topic isn't already set, do it now
         if self.topic is None:
@@ -410,6 +414,7 @@ def pull_batch(self, max_messages: int = 1) -> List["Alert"]:
         max_messages : `int`
             Maximum number of messages to be pulled.
         """
+        # Wrapping the module-level function
         return pull_batch(self, max_messages=max_messages, schema_name=self.schema_name)
 
     def purge(self):