diff --git a/lib/dns/rbtdb.c b/lib/dns/rbtdb.c
index aadb481ba9..0782a8fb71 100644
--- a/lib/dns/rbtdb.c
+++ b/lib/dns/rbtdb.c
@@ -1031,12 +1031,15 @@ set_ttl(dns_rbtdb_t *rbtdb, rdatasetheader_t *header, dns_ttl_t newttl) {
 	isc_heap_t *heap;
 	dns_ttl_t oldttl;
 
+
+	if (!IS_CACHE(rbtdb)) {
+		header->rdh_ttl = newttl;
+		return;
+	}
+
 	oldttl = header->rdh_ttl;
 	header->rdh_ttl = newttl;
 
-	if (!IS_CACHE(rbtdb))
-		return;
-
 	/*
 	 * It's possible the rbtdb is not a cache.  If this is the case,
 	 * we will not have a heap, and we move on.  If we do, though,
@@ -1555,7 +1558,6 @@ static inline void
 init_rdataset(dns_rbtdb_t *rbtdb, rdatasetheader_t *h) {
 	ISC_LINK_INIT(h, link);
 	h->heap_index = 0;
-	h->rdh_ttl = 0;
 	h->is_mmapped = 0;
 	h->next_is_relative = 0;
 	h->node_is_relative = 0;
@@ -1605,6 +1607,7 @@ new_rdataset(dns_rbtdb_t *rbtdb, isc_mem_t *mctx) {
 #endif
 	memset(h->upper, 0xeb, sizeof(h->upper));
 	init_rdataset(rbtdb, h);
+	h->rdh_ttl = 0;
 	return (h);
 }