diff --git a/metadata/metadata_test.go b/metadata/metadata_test.go
index 8e2069265..905a70308 100644
--- a/metadata/metadata_test.go
+++ b/metadata/metadata_test.go
@@ -32,9 +32,20 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/util/watchlist"
 	"k8s.io/klog/v2/ktesting"
 )
 
+func TestDoesClientSupportWatchListSemantics(t *testing.T) {
+	target, err := NewForConfig(&rest.Config{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if watchlist.DoesClientNotSupportWatchListSemantics(target) {
+		t.Fatalf("Metadata client should support WatchList semantics")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestClient(t *testing.T) {
 	gvr := schema.GroupVersionResource{Group: "group", Version: "v1", Resource: "resource"}
 	statusOK := &metav1.Status{
diff --git a/metadata/metadatainformer/informer.go b/metadata/metadatainformer/informer.go
index 6eb0584fd..665198f12 100644
--- a/metadata/metadatainformer/informer.go
+++ b/metadata/metadatainformer/informer.go
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ func NewFilteredMetadataInformer(client metadata.Interface, gvr schema.GroupVers
 	return &metadataInformer{
 		gvr: gvr,
 		informer: cache.NewSharedIndexInformer(
-			&cache.ListWatch{
+			cache.ToListWatcherWithWatchListSemantics(&cache.ListWatch{
 				ListFunc: func(options metav1.ListOptions) (runtime.Object, error) {
 					if tweakListOptions != nil {
 						tweakListOptions(&options)
@@ -203,7 +203,7 @@ func NewFilteredMetadataInformer(client metadata.Interface, gvr schema.GroupVers
 					}
 					return client.Resource(gvr).Namespace(namespace).Watch(ctx, options)
 				},
-			},
+			}, client),
 			&metav1.PartialObjectMetadata{},
 			resyncPeriod,
 			indexers,
diff --git a/metadata/metadatainformer/informer_test.go b/metadata/metadatainformer/informer_test.go
index f52dbf061..a1b9a99a6 100644
--- a/metadata/metadatainformer/informer_test.go
+++ b/metadata/metadatainformer/informer_test.go
@@ -19,18 +19,27 @@ package metadatainformer
 import (
 	"context"
 	"flag"
+	"net/http"
+	"net/http/httptest"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
 	"github.com/google/go-cmp/cmp"
-	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
 
+	appsv1 "k8s.io/api/apps/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/api/equality"
 	metav1 "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/json"
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/watch"
+	clientfeatures "k8s.io/client-go/features"
+	clientfeaturestesting "k8s.io/client-go/features/testing"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/metadata"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/metadata/fake"
+	"k8s.io/client-go/rest"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/tools/cache"
+	"k8s.io/klog/v2"
 )
 
 func init() {
@@ -39,6 +48,85 @@ func init() {
 	flag.CommandLine.Lookup("alsologtostderr").Value.Set("true")
 }
 
+func TestWatchListSemanticsSimple(t *testing.T) {
+	clientfeaturestesting.SetFeatureDuringTest(t, clientfeatures.WatchListClient, true)
+
+	server := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
+		obj := &metav1.PartialObjectMetadata{
+			TypeMeta: metav1.TypeMeta{
+				APIVersion: "meta.k8s.io/v1",
+				Kind:       "PartialObjectMetadata",
+			},
+			ObjectMeta: metav1.ObjectMeta{
+				Annotations: map[string]string{
+					metav1.InitialEventsAnnotationKey: "true",
+				},
+			},
+		}
+		rawObj, err := json.Marshal(obj)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("failed to marshal rawObj: %v", err)
+			http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
+			return
+		}
+
+		watchEvent := &metav1.WatchEvent{
+			Type:   string(watch.Bookmark),
+			Object: runtime.RawExtension{Raw: rawObj},
+		}
+		rawRsp, err := json.Marshal(watchEvent)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Errorf("failed to marshal watchEvent: %v", err)
+			http.Error(w, err.Error(), http.StatusInternalServerError)
+			return
+		}
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		_, err = w.Write(rawRsp)
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("failed to write response: %v", err)
+		}
+	}))
+	defer server.Close()
+
+	cfg := &rest.Config{Host: server.URL}
+	client, err := metadata.NewForConfig(cfg)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+
+	factory := NewFilteredSharedInformerFactory(client, 0, "ns", nil)
+	target := factory.ForResource(schema.GroupVersionResource{Group: "apps", Version: "v1", Resource: "deployments"})
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 5*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	factory.Start(ctx.Done())
+
+	if !cache.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done(), target.Informer().HasSynced) {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to wait for caches to sync")
+	}
+}
+
+func TestUnSupportWatchListSemantics(t *testing.T) {
+	clientfeaturestesting.SetFeatureDuringTest(t, clientfeatures.WatchListClient, true)
+	scheme := runtime.NewScheme()
+	if err := appsv1.AddToScheme(scheme); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to add appsv1 to scheme: %v", err)
+	}
+	// The fake client doesn’t support WatchList semantics,
+	// so we don’t need to prepare a response.
+	fakeClient := fake.NewSimpleMetadataClient(scheme)
+	factory := NewFilteredSharedInformerFactory(fakeClient, 0, "ns", nil)
+	target := factory.ForResource(schema.GroupVersionResource{Group: "apps", Version: "v1", Resource: "deployments"})
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 5*time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	factory.Start(ctx.Done())
+
+	if !cache.WaitForCacheSync(ctx.Done(), target.Informer().HasSynced) {
+		t.Fatalf("failed to wait for caches to sync")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestMetadataSharedInformerFactory(t *testing.T) {
 	scenarios := []struct {
 		name        string