diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 9eb71ac..6ba6feb 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ const parallel = require('async/parallel')
 const reflect = require('async/reflect')
 const multiaddr = require('multiaddr')
 
+const DEFAULT_MAX_TIMEOUT = 30e3 // 30 second default
 const DEFAULT_IPFS_API = {
   protocol: 'https',
   port: 443,
@@ -57,20 +58,30 @@ class DelegatedContentRouting {
    * Search the dht for providers of the given CID.
    *
    * - call `findProviders` on the delegated node.
-   * - does not support the `timeout` parameter, as this is specific to the delegate node.
    *
    * @param {CID} key
-   * @param {number} _timeout This is ignored and is only present to comply with the dht interface
+   * @param {object} options
+   * @param {number} options.maxTimeout How long the query can take. Defaults to 30 seconds
    * @param {function(Error, Array<PeerInfo>)} callback
    * @returns {void}
    */
-  findProviders (key, _timeout, callback) {
-    if (typeof _timeout === 'function') {
-      callback = _timeout
-      _timeout = null
+  findProviders (key, options, callback) {
+    if (typeof options === 'function') {
+      callback = options
+      options = {}
+    } else if (typeof options === 'number') { // This will be deprecated in a next release
+      options = {
+        maxTimeout: options
+      }
+    } else {
+      options = options || {}
     }
 
-    this.dht.findprovs(key.toBaseEncodedString(), (err, results) => {
+    options.maxTimeout = options.maxTimeout || DEFAULT_MAX_TIMEOUT
+
+    this.dht.findprovs(key.toBaseEncodedString(), {
+      timeout: `${options.maxTimeout}ms` // The api requires specification of the time unit (s/ms)
+    }, (err, results) => {
       if (err) {
         return callback(err)
       }
diff --git a/test/index.spec.js b/test/index.spec.js
index 9f67f70..e4a70dd 100644
--- a/test/index.spec.js
+++ b/test/index.spec.js
@@ -147,6 +147,31 @@ describe('DelegatedContentRouting', function () {
         }
       ], done)
     })
+
+    it('should be able to specify a maxTimeout', function (done) {
+      async.waterfall([
+        (cb) => {
+          const opts = delegatedNode.apiAddr.toOptions()
+          const routing = new DelegatedContentRouting(selfId, {
+            protocol: 'http',
+            port: opts.port,
+            host: opts.host
+          })
+          const cid = new CID('QmS4ustL54uo8FzR9455qaxZwuMiUhyvMcX9Ba8nUH4uVv')
+          routing.findProviders(cid, { maxTimeout: 5e3 }, cb)
+        },
+        (providers, cb) => {
+          // We should get our local node and the bootstrap node as providers.
+          // The delegate node is not included, because it is handling the requests
+          expect(providers).to.have.length(2)
+          expect(providers.map((p) => p.id.toB58String())).to.have.members([
+            bootstrapId.id,
+            selfId.toB58String()
+          ])
+          cb()
+        }
+      ], done)
+    })
   })
 
   describe('provide', () => {