diff --git a/patroni/dcs/zookeeper.py b/patroni/dcs/zookeeper.py
index dae08ffb..be6fe45a 100644
--- a/patroni/dcs/zookeeper.py
+++ b/patroni/dcs/zookeeper.py
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import logging
 
 from kazoo.client import KazooClient, KazooState
 from kazoo.exceptions import NoNodeError, NodeExistsError
+from kazoo.handlers.threading import SequentialThreadingHandler
 from patroni.dcs import AbstractDCS, ClusterConfig, Cluster, Failover, Leader, Member
 from patroni.exceptions import DCSError
 
@@ -12,6 +13,34 @@ class ZooKeeperError(DCSError):
     pass
 
 
+class PatroniSequentialThreadingHandler(SequentialThreadingHandler):
+
+    def __init__(self, connect_timeout):
+        super(PatroniSequentialThreadingHandler, self).__init__()
+        self.set_connect_timeout(connect_timeout)
+
+    def set_connect_timeout(self, connect_timeout):
+        self._connect_timeout = max(1.0, connect_timeout/4.0)
+
+    def create_connection(self, *args, **kwargs):
+        """This method is trying to establish connection with one of the zookeeper nodes.
+           Somehow strategy "fail earlier and retry more often" works way better comparing to
+           the original strategy "try to connect with specified timeout".
+           Since we want to try connect to zookeeper more often (with the smaller connect_timeout),
+           he have to override `create_connection` method in the `SequentialThreadingHandler`
+           class (which is used by `kazoo.Client`).
+
+        :param args: always contains `tuple(host, port)` as the first element and could contain
+                     `connect_timeout` (negotiated session timeout) as the second element."""
+
+        args = list(args)
+        if len(args) == 1:
+            args.append(self._connect_timeout)
+        else:
+            args[1] = max(self._connect_timeout, args[1]/10.0)
+        return super(PatroniSequentialThreadingHandler, self).create_connection(*args, **kwargs)
+
+
 class ZooKeeper(AbstractDCS):
 
     def __init__(self, config):
@@ -21,7 +50,8 @@ class ZooKeeper(AbstractDCS):
         if isinstance(hosts, list):
             hosts = ','.join(hosts)
 
-        self._client = KazooClient(hosts, timeout=config['ttl'], connection_retry={'max_delay': 1, 'max_tries': -1},
+        self._client = KazooClient(hosts, handler=PatroniSequentialThreadingHandler(config['retry_timeout']),
+                                   timeout=config['ttl'], connection_retry={'max_delay': 1, 'max_tries': -1},
                                    command_retry={'deadline': config['retry_timeout'], 'max_delay': 1, 'max_tries': -1})
         self._client.add_listener(self.session_listener)
 
@@ -47,6 +77,7 @@ class ZooKeeper(AbstractDCS):
             self._client.restart()
 
     def set_retry_timeout(self, retry_timeout):
+        self._client.handler.set_connect_timeout(retry_timeout)
         self._client._retry.deadline = retry_timeout
 
     def get_node(self, key, watch=None):
diff --git a/tests/test_zookeeper.py b/tests/test_zookeeper.py
index 01555d8e..a406ec82 100644
--- a/tests/test_zookeeper.py
+++ b/tests/test_zookeeper.py
@@ -3,9 +3,10 @@ import unittest
 
 from kazoo.client import KazooState
 from kazoo.exceptions import NoNodeError, NodeExistsError
+from kazoo.handlers.threading import SequentialThreadingHandler
 from kazoo.protocol.states import ZnodeStat
 from mock import Mock, patch
-from patroni.dcs.zookeeper import Leader, ZooKeeper, ZooKeeperError
+from patroni.dcs.zookeeper import Leader, PatroniSequentialThreadingHandler, ZooKeeper, ZooKeeperError
 
 
 class MockKazooClient(Mock):
@@ -92,6 +93,17 @@ class MockKazooClient(Mock):
             raise NoNodeError
 
 
+class TestPatroniSequentialThreadingHandler(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        self.handler = PatroniSequentialThreadingHandler(10)
+
+    @patch.object(SequentialThreadingHandler, 'create_connection', Mock())
+    def test_create_connection(self):
+        self.assertIsNotNone(self.handler.create_connection(()))
+        self.assertIsNotNone(self.handler.create_connection((), 40))
+
+
 class TestZooKeeper(unittest.TestCase):
 
     @patch('patroni.dcs.zookeeper.KazooClient', MockKazooClient)