diff --git a/SPEC/OBJECT.md b/SPEC/OBJECT.md
index 1d34ca096..d1d3690a1 100644
--- a/SPEC/OBJECT.md
+++ b/SPEC/OBJECT.md
@@ -198,7 +198,7 @@ A great source of [examples][] can be found in the tests for this API.
 
 `options` is a optional argument of type object, that can contain the following properties:
 
-- `enc`, the encoding of multihash (base58, base64, etc), if any.
+- `timeout`, A timeout to pass to the IPFS daemon so the request expires after a certain amount of time without any response. NOTE: not yet supported in JS IPFS.
 
 `callback` must follow `function (err, stats) {}` signature, where `err` is an error if the operation was not successful and `stats` is an Object with following format:
 
@@ -220,7 +220,7 @@ If no `callback` is passed, a [promise][] is returned.
 ```JavaScript
 const multihash = 'QmPTkMuuL6PD8L2SwTwbcs1NPg14U8mRzerB1ZrrBrkSDD'
 
-ipfs.object.stat(multihash, (err, stats) => {
+ipfs.object.stat(multihash, {timeout: '10s'}, (err, stats) => {
   if (err) {
     throw err
   }
diff --git a/src/object/stat.js b/src/object/stat.js
index 285300bad..0559ad104 100644
--- a/src/object/stat.js
+++ b/src/object/stat.js
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ module.exports = (createCommon, options) => {
       }
 
       await ipfs.object.put(testObj)
-      const stats = await ipfs.object.stat('QmNggDXca24S6cMPEYHZjeuc4QRmofkRrAEqVL3Ms2sdJZ', { enc: 'base58' })
+      const stats = await ipfs.object.stat('QmNggDXca24S6cMPEYHZjeuc4QRmofkRrAEqVL3Ms2sdJZ')
 
       const expected = {
         Hash: 'QmNggDXca24S6cMPEYHZjeuc4QRmofkRrAEqVL3Ms2sdJZ',
@@ -81,6 +81,31 @@ module.exports = (createCommon, options) => {
       expect(expected).to.deep.equal(stats)
     })
 
+    it('should respect timeout option', (done) => {
+      const testObj = {
+        Data: Buffer.from('get test object'),
+        Links: []
+      }
+
+      ipfs.object.put(testObj, (err) => {
+        expect(err).to.not.exist()
+        const timeout = 2
+        const startTime = new Date()
+        const badCid = 'QmNggDXca24S6cMPEYHZjeuc4QRmofkRrAEqVL3MzzzzzZ'
+
+        // we can test that we are passing in opts by testing the timeout option for a CID that doesn't exist
+        ipfs.object.stat(badCid, { timeout: `${timeout}s` }, (err, stats) => {
+          const timeForRequest = (new Date() - startTime) / 1000
+          expect(err).to.exist()
+          expect(err.message).to.equal('failed to get block for QmNggDXca24S6cMPEYHZjeuc4QRmofkRrAEqVL3MzzzzzZ: context deadline exceeded')
+          expect(stats).to.not.exist()
+          expect(timeForRequest).to.not.lessThan(timeout)
+          expect(timeForRequest).to.not.greaterThan(timeout + 1)
+          done()
+        })
+      })
+    })
+
     it('should get stats for object with links by multihash', (done) => {
       let node1a
       let node1b
@@ -151,7 +176,7 @@ module.exports = (createCommon, options) => {
       ipfs.object.put(testObj, (err, cid) => {
         expect(err).to.not.exist()
 
-        ipfs.object.stat(cid.buffer, { enc: 'base58' }, (err, stats) => {
+        ipfs.object.stat(cid.buffer, (err, stats) => {
           expect(err).to.not.exist()
           const expected = {
             Hash: 'QmNggDXca24S6cMPEYHZjeuc4QRmofkRrAEqVL3Ms2sdJZ',
@@ -176,7 +201,7 @@ module.exports = (createCommon, options) => {
       ipfs.object.put(testObj, (err, cid) => {
         expect(err).to.not.exist()
 
-        ipfs.object.stat(cid.toBaseEncodedString(), { enc: 'base58' }, (err, stats) => {
+        ipfs.object.stat(cid.toBaseEncodedString(), (err, stats) => {
           expect(err).to.not.exist()
           const expected = {
             Hash: 'QmNggDXca24S6cMPEYHZjeuc4QRmofkRrAEqVL3Ms2sdJZ',