diff --git a/proxy/src/redis/notifications.rs b/proxy/src/redis/notifications.rs
index 671305a300..4383d6be2c 100644
--- a/proxy/src/redis/notifications.rs
+++ b/proxy/src/redis/notifications.rs
@@ -30,8 +30,14 @@ async fn try_connect(client: &ConnectionWithCredentialsProvider) -> anyhow::Resu
     Ok(conn)
 }
 
+#[derive(Debug, Deserialize)]
+struct NotificationHeader<'a> {
+    topic: &'a str,
+}
+
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, Eq, PartialEq)]
 #[serde(tag = "topic", content = "data")]
+// Message to contributors: Make sure to align these topic names with the list below.
 pub(crate) enum Notification {
     #[serde(
         rename = "/allowed_ips_updated",
@@ -69,6 +75,22 @@ pub(crate) enum Notification {
     #[serde(rename = "/cancel_session")]
     Cancel(CancelSession),
 }
+
+/// Returns true if the topic name given is a known topic that we can deserialize and action on.
+/// Returns false otherwise.
+fn known_topic(s: &str) -> bool {
+    // Message to contributors: Make sure to align these topic names with the enum above.
+    matches!(
+        s,
+        "/allowed_ips_updated"
+            | "/block_public_or_vpc_access_updated"
+            | "/allowed_vpc_endpoints_updated_for_org"
+            | "/allowed_vpc_endpoints_updated_for_projects"
+            | "/password_updated"
+            | "/cancel_session"
+    )
+}
+
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, Eq, PartialEq)]
 pub(crate) struct AllowedIpsUpdate {
     project_id: ProjectIdInt,
@@ -96,6 +118,7 @@ pub(crate) struct PasswordUpdate {
     project_id: ProjectIdInt,
     role_name: RoleNameInt,
 }
+
 #[derive(Clone, Debug, Serialize, Deserialize, Eq, PartialEq)]
 pub(crate) struct CancelSession {
     pub(crate) region_id: Option<String>,
@@ -141,18 +164,23 @@ impl<C: ProjectInfoCache + Send + Sync + 'static> MessageHandler<C> {
             region_id,
         }
     }
+
     pub(crate) async fn increment_active_listeners(&self) {
         self.cache.increment_active_listeners().await;
     }
+
     pub(crate) async fn decrement_active_listeners(&self) {
         self.cache.decrement_active_listeners().await;
     }
+
     #[tracing::instrument(skip(self, msg), fields(session_id = tracing::field::Empty))]
     async fn handle_message(&self, msg: redis::Msg) -> anyhow::Result<()> {
         let payload: String = msg.get_payload()?;
         tracing::debug!(?payload, "received a message payload");
 
-        let msg: Notification = match serde_json::from_str(&payload) {
+        // For better error handling, we first parse the payload to extract the topic.
+        // If there's a topic we don't support, we can handle that error more gracefully.
+        let header: NotificationHeader = match serde_json::from_str(&payload) {
             Ok(msg) => msg,
             Err(e) => {
                 Metrics::get().proxy.redis_errors_total.inc(RedisErrors {
@@ -162,6 +190,24 @@ impl<C: ProjectInfoCache + Send + Sync + 'static> MessageHandler<C> {
                 return Ok(());
             }
         };
+
+        if !known_topic(header.topic) {
+            // don't update the metric for redis errors if it's just a topic we don't know about.
+            tracing::warn!(topic = header.topic, "unknown topic");
+            return Ok(());
+        }
+
+        let msg: Notification = match serde_json::from_str(&payload) {
+            Ok(msg) => msg,
+            Err(e) => {
+                Metrics::get().proxy.redis_errors_total.inc(RedisErrors {
+                    channel: msg.get_channel_name(),
+                });
+                tracing::error!(topic = header.topic, "broken message: {e}");
+                return Ok(());
+            }
+        };
+
         tracing::debug!(?msg, "received a message");
         match msg {
             Notification::Cancel(cancel_session) => {