diff --git a/include/curl/easy.h b/include/curl/easy.h
index 1285101c587d759fcf6063d33350337ad4f8350d..7fac678123015469cbbbe8dc3e2b8b6c2d26f339 100644
--- a/include/curl/easy.h
+++ b/include/curl/easy.h
@@ -38,7 +38,11 @@ struct curl_blob {
                          left zeroes */
 };
 
+#ifdef USE_ARES
+CURL_EXTERN CURL *curl_easy_init_with_cares(void);
+#else
 CURL_EXTERN CURL *curl_easy_init(void);
+#endif
 CURL_EXTERN CURLcode curl_easy_setopt(CURL *curl, CURLoption option, ...);
 CURL_EXTERN CURLcode curl_easy_perform(CURL *curl);
 CURL_EXTERN void curl_easy_cleanup(CURL *curl);
diff --git a/lib/conncache.c b/lib/conncache.c
index 66f18ecb850e5d3377524d43c4aa2a478b4d5ca9..08350a63a47233cafb0435a72e10e3a778d734e6 100644
--- a/lib/conncache.c
+++ b/lib/conncache.c
@@ -104,7 +104,11 @@ static void free_bundle_hash_entry(void *freethis)
 int Curl_conncache_init(struct conncache *connc, int size)
 {
   /* allocate a new easy handle to use when closing cached connections */
+#ifdef USE_ARES
+  connc->closure_handle = curl_easy_init_with_cares();
+#else
   connc->closure_handle = curl_easy_init();
+#endif
   if(!connc->closure_handle)
     return 1; /* bad */
   connc->closure_handle->state.internal = true;
diff --git a/lib/easy.c b/lib/easy.c
index 32c04dc80b26fd7356a1dd3736019143bd7f5319..536834ffbbd355c99f771e0ebcf492e85467e1a6 100644
--- a/lib/easy.c
+++ b/lib/easy.c
@@ -345,7 +345,11 @@ CURLsslset curl_global_sslset(curl_sslbackend id, const char *name,
  * curl_easy_init() is the external interface to alloc, setup and init an
  * easy handle that is returned. If anything goes wrong, NULL is returned.
  */
+#ifdef USE_ARES
+struct Curl_easy *curl_easy_init_with_cares(void)
+#else
 struct Curl_easy *curl_easy_init(void)
+#endif
 {
   CURLcode result;
   struct Curl_easy *data;