diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 98b2267c15..c4ffba1923 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -91,8 +91,8 @@ RedisClient.prototype.install_stream_listeners = function() {
         self.reply_parser.execute(buffer_from_socket);
     });
 
-    this.stream.on("error", function (msg) {
-        self.on_error(msg.message);
+    this.stream.on("error", function (err) {
+        self.on_error(err);
     });
 
     this.stream.on("close", function () {
@@ -148,19 +148,18 @@ RedisClient.prototype.flush_and_error = function (error) {
     this.command_queue = new Queue();
 };
 
-RedisClient.prototype.on_error = function (msg) {
+RedisClient.prototype.on_error = function (err) {
     if (this.closing) {
         return;
     }
 
-    var message = "Redis connection to " + this.address + " failed - " + msg;
+    err.message = "Redis connection to " + this.address + " failed - " + err.message;
 
-    debug(message);
+    debug(err.message);
 
     this.connected = false;
     this.ready = false;
-
-    this.emit("error", new Error(message));
+    this.emit("error", err);
     // "error" events get turned into exceptions if they aren't listened for. If the user handled this error
     // then we should try to reconnect.
     this.connection_gone("error");
@@ -346,7 +345,8 @@ RedisClient.prototype.on_info_cmd = function (err, res) {
     var line, retry_time, parts, sub_parts;
 
     if (err) {
-        return self.emit("error", new Error("Ready check failed: " + err.message));
+        err.message = "Ready check failed: " + err.message;
+        return self.emit("error", err);
     }
 
     for (i = 0; i < lines.length; i++) {
diff --git a/test/node_redis.spec.js b/test/node_redis.spec.js
index cfdb8f6b25..3a90a94419 100644
--- a/test/node_redis.spec.js
+++ b/test/node_redis.spec.js
@@ -765,6 +765,12 @@ describe("The node_redis client", function () {
                                 assert(i, 3);
                                 assert.strictEqual(client.offline_queue.length, 0);
                                 done();
+                            } else {
+                                assert.equal(err.code, 'ECONNREFUSED');
+                                assert.equal(err.errno, 'ECONNREFUSED');
+                                assert.equal(err.syscall, 'connect');
+                                assert.equal(err.address, '127.0.0.1');
+                                assert.equal(err.port, 9999);
                             }
                         });
 
@@ -785,7 +791,7 @@ describe("The node_redis client", function () {
                 });
 
                 describe('false', function () {
-                    it("does emit an error and does not enqueues operation", function (done) {
+                    it("emit an error and does not enqueues operation", function (done) {
                         var client = redis.createClient(9999, null, {
                             parser: parser,
                             max_attempts: 0,
@@ -840,6 +846,12 @@ describe("The node_redis client", function () {
                             if (/Redis connection in broken state:/.test(err.message)) {
                                 assert.equal(client.command_queue.length, 0);
                                 done();
+                            } else {
+                                assert.equal(err.code, 'ECONNREFUSED');
+                                assert.equal(err.errno, 'ECONNREFUSED');
+                                assert.equal(err.syscall, 'connect');
+                                assert.equal(err.address, '127.0.0.2');
+                                assert.equal(err.port, 6370);
                             }
                         });
                     });