diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index e9024987..6f3cb5ae 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 - fix a problem with shinkv tail processing [angelmixu]
 - fix a read one byte beyond buffer bug in jpegload
 - make GIF parsing less strict
+- better feof() handling in GIF load
 - clip coding and interpretation on vips image read
 
 24/5/19 started 8.8.1
diff --git a/libvips/foreign/gifload.c b/libvips/foreign/gifload.c
index a76ba040..b45aa059 100644
--- a/libvips/foreign/gifload.c
+++ b/libvips/foreign/gifload.c
@@ -191,7 +191,6 @@ typedef struct _VipsForeignLoadGif {
 	/* Params for DGifOpen(). Set by subclasses, called by base class in
 	 * _open().
 	 */
-	void *userPtr;
 	InputFunc read_func;
 
 } VipsForeignLoadGif;
@@ -1052,13 +1051,13 @@ vips_foreign_load_gif_open( VipsForeignLoadGif *gif )
 {
 	int error;
 
-	if( !(gif->file = DGifOpen( gif->userPtr, gif->read_func, &error )) ) {
+	if( !(gif->file = DGifOpen( gif, gif->read_func, &error )) ) {
 		vips_foreign_load_gif_error_vips( gif, error );
 		return( -1 ); 
 	}
 }
 #else 
-	if( !(gif->file = DGifOpen( gif->userPtr, gif->read_func )) ) { 
+	if( !(gif->file = DGifOpen( gif, gif->read_func )) ) { 
 		vips_foreign_load_gif_error_vips( gif, GifLastError() ); 
 		return( -1 ); 
 	}
@@ -1161,11 +1160,15 @@ vips_foreign_load_gif_file_dispose( GObject *gobject )
  * across DLL boundaries on Windows. 
  */
 static int 
-vips_giflib_file_read( GifFileType *file, GifByteType *buffer, int n )
+vips_giflib_file_read( GifFileType *gfile, GifByteType *buffer, int n )
 {
-	FILE *fp = (FILE *) file->UserData;
+	VipsForeignLoadGif *gif = (VipsForeignLoadGif *) gfile->UserData;
+	VipsForeignLoadGifFile *file = (VipsForeignLoadGifFile *) gif;
 
-	return( (int) fread( (void *) buffer, 1, n, fp ) );
+	if( feof( file->fp ) )
+		gif->eof = TRUE;
+
+	return( (int) fread( (void *) buffer, 1, n, file->fp ) );
 }
 
 static int
@@ -1185,7 +1188,6 @@ vips_foreign_load_gif_file_open( VipsForeignLoadGif *gif )
 		rewind( file->fp );
 
 	vips_foreign_load_gif_close( gif );
-	gif->userPtr = file->fp;
 	gif->read_func = vips_giflib_file_read;
 
 	return( VIPS_FOREIGN_LOAD_GIF_CLASS( 
@@ -1279,7 +1281,6 @@ vips_foreign_load_gif_buffer_open( VipsForeignLoadGif *gif )
 	vips_foreign_load_gif_close( gif );
 	buffer->p = buffer->buf->data;
 	buffer->bytes_to_go = buffer->buf->length;
-	gif->userPtr = gif;
 	gif->read_func = vips_giflib_buffer_read;;
 
 	return( VIPS_FOREIGN_LOAD_GIF_CLASS(