diff --git a/litellm/proxy/utils.py b/litellm/proxy/utils.py
index d1a78534da..bd44cef954 100644
--- a/litellm/proxy/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/proxy/utils.py
@@ -131,6 +131,7 @@ else:
 
 unified_guardrail = UnifiedLLMGuardrails()
 
+_anthropic_async_clients = {}
 
 def print_verbose(print_statement):
     """
@@ -4254,11 +4255,16 @@ async def count_tokens_with_anthropic_api(
 
         if anthropic_api_key and messages:
             # Call Anthropic API directly for more accurate token counting
-            client = anthropic.Anthropic(api_key=anthropic_api_key)
+            
+            # Use cached client if available to avoid socket exhaustion
+            if anthropic_api_key not in _anthropic_async_clients:
+                _anthropic_async_clients[anthropic_api_key] = anthropic.AsyncAnthropic(api_key=anthropic_api_key)
+            
+            client = _anthropic_async_clients[anthropic_api_key]
 
             # Call with explicit parameters to satisfy type checking
             # Type ignore for now since messages come from generic dict input
-            response = client.beta.messages.count_tokens(
+            response = await client.beta.messages.count_tokens(
                 model=model_to_use,
                 messages=messages,  # type: ignore
                 betas=["token-counting-2024-11-01"],
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/test_utils_custom.py b/tests/test_litellm/test_utils_custom.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..292da4132b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/test_utils_custom.py
@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+import pytest
+from unittest.mock import MagicMock, patch, AsyncMock
+from litellm.proxy.utils import count_tokens_with_anthropic_api, _anthropic_async_clients
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+async def test_count_tokens_caching():
+    """
+    Test that count_tokens_with_anthropic_api caches the client.
+    """
+    # Clear cache
+    _anthropic_async_clients.clear()
+    
+    api_key = "sk-ant-test-key"
+    messages = [{"role": "user", "content": "hello"}]
+    model = "claude-3-opus-20240229"
+    
+    # Mock anthropic
+    with patch("anthropic.AsyncAnthropic") as mock_cls:
+        mock_client = MagicMock()
+        mock_cls.return_value = mock_client
+        
+        # Mock response
+        mock_response = MagicMock()
+        mock_response.input_tokens = 10
+        
+        # Setup async return for count_tokens
+        mock_client.beta.messages.count_tokens = AsyncMock(return_value=mock_response)
+        
+        # First call
+        with patch.dict("os.environ", {"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": api_key}):
+            await count_tokens_with_anthropic_api(model, messages)
+            
+        assert api_key in _anthropic_async_clients
+        assert _anthropic_async_clients[api_key] == mock_client
+        mock_cls.assert_called_once() # Should be called once
+        
+        # Second call
+        with patch.dict("os.environ", {"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": api_key}):
+            await count_tokens_with_anthropic_api(model, messages)
+            
+        # Should still be called once (cached)
+        mock_cls.assert_called_once()