diff --git a/src/cachelib/memcached.py b/src/cachelib/memcached.py
index 462d7352..36617390 100644
--- a/src/cachelib/memcached.py
+++ b/src/cachelib/memcached.py
@@ -202,12 +202,20 @@ def clear(self) -> bool:
 
     def inc(self, key: str, delta: int = 1) -> _t.Optional[int]:
         key = self._normalize_key(key)
-        value = (self._client.get(key) or 0) + delta
+        if self.pylibmc_used:
+            with self._client.reserve(block=self.blocking) as mc:
+                value = (mc.get(key) or 0) + delta
+        else:
+            value = (self._client.get(key) or 0) + delta
         return value if self.set(key, value) else None
 
     def dec(self, key: str, delta: int = 1) -> _t.Optional[int]:
         key = self._normalize_key(key)
-        value = (self._client.get(key) or 0) - delta
+        if self.pylibmc_used:
+            with self._client.reserve(block=self.blocking) as mc:
+                value = (mc.get(key) or 0) - delta
+        else:
+            value = (self._client.get(key) or 0) - delta
         return value if self.set(key, value) else None
 
     def import_preferred_memcache_lib(self, servers: _t.Any, threads: int) -> _t.Any: