diff --git a/couchdb/client.go b/couchdb/client.go
index 31ab810c..61866cbf 100644
--- a/couchdb/client.go
+++ b/couchdb/client.go
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ func (c *client) DBExists(ctx context.Context, dbName string, _ driver.Options)
 	if dbName == "" {
 		return false, missingArg("dbName")
 	}
-	_, err := c.DoError(ctx, http.MethodHead, dbName, nil)
+	_, err := c.DoError(ctx, http.MethodHead, url.PathEscape(dbName), nil)
 	if kivik.HTTPStatus(err) == http.StatusNotFound {
 		return false, nil
 	}
diff --git a/couchdb/client_test.go b/couchdb/client_test.go
index e2637d03..d45de541 100644
--- a/couchdb/client_test.go
+++ b/couchdb/client_test.go
@@ -15,8 +15,10 @@ package couchdb
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"net/http"
+	"net/url"
 	"testing"
 
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
@@ -131,6 +133,34 @@ func TestDBExists(t *testing.T) {
 			}, nil),
 			exists: true,
 		},
+		{
+			name:   "slashes",
+			dbName: "foo/bar",
+			client: newCustomClient(func(req *http.Request) (*http.Response, error) {
+				if err := consume(req.Body); err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+				expected := "/" + url.PathEscape("foo/bar")
+				actual := req.URL.RawPath
+				if actual != expected {
+					return nil, fmt.Errorf("expected path %s, got %s", expected, actual)
+				}
+				response := &http.Response{
+					StatusCode: 200,
+					Header: http.Header{
+						"Server":         {"CouchDB/1.6.1 (Erlang OTP/17)"},
+						"Date":           {"Fri, 27 Oct 2017 15:09:19 GMT"},
+						"Content-Type":   {"text/plain; charset=utf-8"},
+						"Content-Length": {"229"},
+						"Cache-Control":  {"must-revalidate"},
+					},
+					Body: Body(""),
+				}
+				response.Request = req
+				return response, nil
+			}),
+			exists: true,
+		},
 	}
 	for _, test := range tests {
 		t.Run(test.name, func(t *testing.T) {