diff --git a/client/httpapi/requestbuilder.go b/client/httpapi/requestbuilder.go
index 628ad03cd..af43ce236 100644
--- a/client/httpapi/requestbuilder.go
+++ b/client/httpapi/requestbuilder.go
@@ -103,11 +103,11 @@ func (r *RequestBuilder) Exec(ctx context.Context, res interface{}) error {
 	}
 
 	if res == nil {
-		httpRes.Close()
+		lateErr := httpRes.Close()
 		if httpRes.Error != nil {
 			return httpRes.Error
 		}
-		return nil
+		return lateErr
 	}
 
 	return httpRes.Decode(res)
diff --git a/client/httpapi/response.go b/client/httpapi/response.go
index b9e83eb3d..f773130e8 100644
--- a/client/httpapi/response.go
+++ b/client/httpapi/response.go
@@ -39,9 +39,14 @@ type Response struct {
 
 func (r *Response) Close() error {
 	if r.Output != nil {
-		// always drain output (response body)
-		//ioutil.ReadAll(r.Output) // TODO: might not be a good idea in case there is a lot of data
-		return r.Output.Close()
+
+		// always drain output (response body) //TODO: make optional for things like cat
+		_, err1 := io.Copy(ioutil.Discard, r.Output)
+		err2 := r.Output.Close()
+		if err1 != nil {
+			return err1
+		}
+		return err2
 	}
 	return nil
 }