diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
index 3d3f796d85..bcdd518be6 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.c
@@ -2150,6 +2150,33 @@ dbusVMStateHashFree(void *opaque)
 }
 
 
+int
+qemuDomainObjStartWorker(virDomainObjPtr dom)
+{
+    qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = dom->privateData;
+
+    if (!priv->eventThread) {
+        g_autofree char *threadName = g_strdup_printf("vm-%s", dom->def->name);
+        if (!(priv->eventThread = virEventThreadNew(threadName)))
+            return -1;
+    }
+
+    return 0;
+}
+
+
+void
+qemuDomainObjStopWorker(virDomainObjPtr dom)
+{
+    qemuDomainObjPrivatePtr priv = dom->privateData;
+
+    if (priv->eventThread) {
+        g_object_unref(priv->eventThread);
+        priv->eventThread = NULL;
+    }
+}
+
+
 static void *
 qemuDomainObjPrivateAlloc(void *opaque)
 {
@@ -2289,6 +2316,12 @@ qemuDomainObjPrivateFree(void *data)
     virHashFree(priv->blockjobs);
     virHashFree(priv->dbusVMStates);
 
+    /* This should never be non-NULL if we get here, but just in case... */
+    if (priv->eventThread) {
+        VIR_ERROR(_("Unexpected event thread still active during domain deletion"));
+        g_object_unref(priv->eventThread);
+    }
+
     VIR_FREE(priv);
 }
 
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
index 3929ee9ca1..099ee59772 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_domain.h
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@
 #include "logging/log_manager.h"
 #include "virdomainmomentobjlist.h"
 #include "virenum.h"
+#include "vireventthread.h"
 
 #define QEMU_DOMAIN_FORMAT_LIVE_FLAGS \
     (VIR_DOMAIN_XML_SECURE)
@@ -300,6 +301,8 @@ struct _qemuDomainObjPrivate {
 
     virBitmapPtr namespaces;
 
+    virEventThread *eventThread;
+
     qemuMonitorPtr mon;
     virDomainChrSourceDefPtr monConfig;
     bool monError;
@@ -630,6 +633,9 @@ struct _qemuDomainXmlNsDef {
     char **capsdel;
 };
 
+int qemuDomainObjStartWorker(virDomainObjPtr dom);
+void qemuDomainObjStopWorker(virDomainObjPtr dom);
+
 virDomainObjPtr qemuDomainObjFromDomain(virDomainPtr domain);
 
 qemuDomainSaveCookiePtr qemuDomainSaveCookieNew(virDomainObjPtr vm);
diff --git a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
index 499d39a920..82d2dde15b 100644
--- a/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
+++ b/src/qemu/qemu_process.c
@@ -320,6 +320,9 @@ qemuProcessHandleMonitorEOF(qemuMonitorPtr mon,
     qemuDomainDestroyNamespace(driver, vm);
 
  cleanup:
+    /* Now we got EOF we're not expecting more I/O, so we
+     * can finally kill the event thread */
+    qemuDomainObjStopWorker(vm);
     virObjectUnlock(vm);
 }
 
@@ -6908,6 +6911,9 @@ qemuProcessLaunch(virConnectPtr conn,
     if (rv == -1) /* The VM failed to start */
         goto cleanup;
 
+    if (qemuDomainObjStartWorker(vm) < 0)
+        goto cleanup;
+
     VIR_DEBUG("Waiting for monitor to show up");
     if (qemuProcessWaitForMonitor(driver, vm, asyncJob, logCtxt) < 0)
         goto cleanup;
@@ -7390,6 +7396,18 @@ void qemuProcessStop(virQEMUDriverPtr driver,
         priv->monConfig = NULL;
     }
 
+    /*
+     * We cannot stop the event thread at this time. When
+     * we are in this code, we may not yet have processed the
+     * STOP event or EOF from the monitor. So the event loop
+     * may have pending input that we need to process still.
+     * The qemuProcessHandleMonitorEOF method will kill
+     * the event thread because at that point we don't
+     * expect any more I/O from the QEMU monitor. We are
+     * assuming we don't need to get any more events from the
+     * QEMU agent at that time.
+     */
+
     /* Remove the master key */
     qemuDomainMasterKeyRemove(priv);
 
@@ -7981,6 +7999,9 @@ qemuProcessReconnect(void *opaque)
         virQEMUCapsGet(priv->qemuCaps, QEMU_CAPS_CHARDEV_FD_PASS))
         retry = false;
 
+    if (qemuDomainObjStartWorker(obj) < 0)
+        goto error;
+
     VIR_DEBUG("Reconnect monitor to def=%p name='%s' retry=%d",
               obj, obj->def->name, retry);