diff --git a/litellm/__init__.py b/litellm/__init__.py
index 261457d6889..ccfbf80369f 100644
--- a/litellm/__init__.py
+++ b/litellm/__init__.py
@@ -538,7 +538,7 @@ context_window_fallbacks: Optional[List] = None
 content_policy_fallbacks: Optional[List] = None
 allowed_fails: int = 3
 allow_dynamic_callback_disabling: bool = True
-num_retries_per_request: Optional[int] = None  # cap on Router retries of one model group; resets per fallback hop
+num_retries_per_request: Optional[int] = None  # for the request overall (incl. fallbacks + model retries)
 ####### SECRET MANAGERS #####################
 secret_manager_client: Optional[Any] = (
     None  # list of instantiated key management clients - e.g. azure kv, infisical, etc.
diff --git a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/core_helpers.py b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/core_helpers.py
index 6e76bf9d49e..15380bc5d57 100644
--- a/litellm/litellm_core_utils/core_helpers.py
+++ b/litellm/litellm_core_utils/core_helpers.py
@@ -309,8 +309,8 @@ def max_retries_per_request_hit(kwargs: Mapping[str, object], num_retries_per_re
     metadata: Final = kwargs.get(get_metadata_variable_name_from_kwargs(kwargs))
     if not isinstance(metadata, Mapping):
         return False
-    attempted_retries: Final = metadata.get("attempted_retries")
-    return type(attempted_retries) is int and 0 < attempted_retries and num_retries_per_request <= attempted_retries
+    retry_count: Final = metadata.get("request_retry_count")
+    return type(retry_count) is int and 0 < retry_count and num_retries_per_request <= retry_count
 
 
 def get_or_create_metadata_bucket(
diff --git a/litellm/router.py b/litellm/router.py
index 1665583386f..ff50cac1328 100644
--- a/litellm/router.py
+++ b/litellm/router.py
@@ -8378,7 +8378,8 @@ class Router:
 
     def log_retry(self, kwargs: dict, e: Exception) -> dict:
         """
-        When a retry or fallback happens, record which model group, deployment and attempt just failed and why
+        When a retry or fallback happens, record which model group, deployment and attempt just failed and why,
+        and count it toward the request-wide num_retries_per_request cap
         """
         from litellm.types.router import RetryAttemptRecord
 
@@ -8402,7 +8403,10 @@ class Router:
             else ()
         )
         breadcrumbs: Final = (*kept_breadcrumbs, attempt_record)
+        earlier_retry_count: Final = request_metadata.get("request_retry_count")
+        request_retry_count: Final = (earlier_retry_count if type(earlier_retry_count) is int else 0) + 1
         kwargs[_metadata_var]["previous_models"] = breadcrumbs  # rebind-ok: the logging object already holds this dict
+        kwargs[_metadata_var]["request_retry_count"] = request_retry_count  # rebind-ok: same dict, read by the cap
         return kwargs
 
     def _update_usage(self, deployment_id: str, parent_otel_span: Span | None) -> int:
diff --git a/tests/local_testing/test_router_fallbacks.py b/tests/local_testing/test_router_fallbacks.py
index 5d7955ad34a..82b832f89fd 100644
--- a/tests/local_testing/test_router_fallbacks.py
+++ b/tests/local_testing/test_router_fallbacks.py
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@ import asyncio
 import os
 import time
 import traceback
-from typing import Final
 
 import pytest
 
@@ -14,7 +13,6 @@ from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock, patch
 import litellm
 from litellm import Router
 from litellm.integrations.custom_logger import CustomLogger
-from litellm.types.router import RetryAttemptRecord
 
 from tests.fake_openai_endpoint import FAKE_OPENAI_API_BASE
 
@@ -23,15 +21,15 @@ class MyCustomHandler(CustomLogger):
     success: bool = False
     failure: bool = False
     previous_models: int = 0
-    previous_model_records: tuple[RetryAttemptRecord, ...] = ()
 
     def log_pre_api_call(self, model, messages, kwargs):
         print(f"Pre-API Call")
         print(
             f"previous_models: {kwargs['litellm_params']['metadata'].get('previous_models', None)}"
         )
-        self.previous_model_records = tuple(kwargs["litellm_params"]["metadata"].get("previous_models", ()))
-        self.previous_models = len(self.previous_model_records)
+        self.previous_models = len(
+            kwargs["litellm_params"]["metadata"].get("previous_models", [])
+        )  # {"previous_models": [{"model": litellm_model_name, "exception_type": AuthenticationError, "exception_string": <complete_traceback>}]}
         print(f"self.previous_models: {self.previous_models}")
 
     def log_post_api_call(self, kwargs, response_obj, start_time, end_time):
@@ -720,14 +718,7 @@ async def test_async_fallbacks_max_retries_per_request():
         await asyncio.sleep(
             0.05
         )  # allow a delay as success_callbacks are on a separate thread
-        records: Final = customHandler.previous_model_records
-        assert customHandler.previous_models == len(records)
-        assert records
-        assert {record["model_group"] for record in records} == {"azure/gpt-3.5-turbo"}
-        assert next(record["exception_type"] for record in records if record["attempted_retries"] == 0) == "AuthenticationError"
-        refused_retries: Final = tuple(record for record in records if record["attempted_retries"])
-        assert refused_retries
-        assert all("Max retries per request hit!" in record["exception_string"] for record in refused_retries)
+        assert customHandler.previous_models == 0  # 0 retries, 0 fallback
         router.reset()
     except litellm.Timeout as e:
         pass
diff --git a/tests/router_unit_tests/test_router_helper_utils.py b/tests/router_unit_tests/test_router_helper_utils.py
index 5b06c5fdb01..c7e577366c3 100644
--- a/tests/router_unit_tests/test_router_helper_utils.py
+++ b/tests/router_unit_tests/test_router_helper_utils.py
@@ -631,9 +631,11 @@ def test_deployment_callback_respects_cooldown_time(model_list):
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("metadata_key", ["metadata", "litellm_metadata"])
 def test_log_retry(model_list, metadata_key):
-    """log_retry appends one flat record per failed attempt and copies neither the request kwargs nor
-    the request metadata into it"""
+    """log_retry appends one flat record per failed attempt, copies neither the request kwargs nor the
+    request metadata into it, and counts every failed attempt of the request independently of the
+    per-hop attempted_retries"""
     router = Router(model_list=model_list)
+    rate_limit_error = litellm.RateLimitError(message="slow down", llm_provider="openai", model="gpt-3.5-turbo")
     new_kwargs = router.log_retry(
         kwargs={
             "model": "gpt-3.5-turbo",
@@ -641,7 +643,7 @@ def test_log_retry(model_list, metadata_key):
             "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}],
             metadata_key: {"model_info": {"id": "deployment-1"}, "attempted_retries": 2, "user_api_key": "sk-proxy"},
         },
-        e=litellm.RateLimitError(message="slow down", llm_provider="openai", model="gpt-3.5-turbo"),
+        e=rate_limit_error,
     )
     assert json.loads(json.dumps(new_kwargs[metadata_key]["previous_models"])) == [
         {
@@ -652,6 +654,8 @@ def test_log_retry(model_list, metadata_key):
             "attempted_retries": 2,
         }
     ]
+    assert new_kwargs[metadata_key]["request_retry_count"] == 1
+    assert router.log_retry(kwargs=new_kwargs, e=rate_limit_error)[metadata_key]["request_retry_count"] == 2
 
 
 def test_update_usage(model_list):
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/rust_bridge/test_lifecycle.py b/tests/test_litellm/rust_bridge/test_lifecycle.py
index 1f0b5591c2b..d73385621d5 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/rust_bridge/test_lifecycle.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/rust_bridge/test_lifecycle.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ from litellm.rust_bridge.lifecycle import check_limits
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("metadata_key", ["metadata", "litellm_metadata"])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
-    "cap, attempted_retries, refused",
+    "cap, request_retry_count, refused",
     [(5, 5, True), (5, 4, False), (0, 0, False), (0, 1, True)],
     ids=[
         "cap-above-four-reached",
@@ -17,12 +17,15 @@ from litellm.rust_bridge.lifecycle import check_limits
         "cap-of-zero-refuses-first-retry",
     ],
 )
-def test_check_limits_reads_attempted_retries(
-    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, metadata_key: str, cap: int, attempted_retries: int, refused: bool
+def test_check_limits_reads_request_retry_count(
+    monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch, metadata_key: str, cap: int, request_retry_count: int, refused: bool
 ) -> None:
     monkeypatch.setattr(litellm, "num_retries_per_request", cap)
     monkeypatch.setattr(litellm, "max_budget", None)
-    kwargs: Final = {"model": "mistral/mistral-ocr-latest", metadata_key: {"attempted_retries": attempted_retries}}
+    kwargs: Final = {
+        "model": "mistral/mistral-ocr-latest",
+        metadata_key: {"request_retry_count": request_retry_count},
+    }
     if refused:
         with pytest.raises(RuntimeError, match="Max retries per request hit!"):
             check_limits(kwargs)
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/test_router.py b/tests/test_litellm/test_router.py
index 3cabcd71627..577332727d7 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/test_router.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/test_router.py
@@ -11066,6 +11066,58 @@ async def test_num_retries_per_request_stops_retries_at_caps_above_four(monkeypa
     ]
 
 
+def _failing_group_with_healthy_fallback_router(num_retries):
+    return litellm.Router(
+        model_list=[
+            {
+                "model_name": "broken-group",
+                "litellm_params": {
+                    "model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini",
+                    "api_key": "sk-fake",
+                    "mock_response": "litellm.InternalServerError",
+                },
+            },
+            {
+                "model_name": "healthy-group",
+                "litellm_params": {"model": "openai/gpt-4o-mini", "api_key": "sk-fake", "mock_response": "ok"},
+            },
+        ],
+        fallbacks=[{"broken-group": ["healthy-group"]}],
+        num_retries=num_retries,
+    )
+
+
+@pytest.mark.asyncio
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "cap, hop_refused", [(2, True), (4, False)], ids=["cap-spent-before-the-hop", "cap-not-reached-by-the-hop"]
+)
+async def test_num_retries_per_request_counts_retries_across_fallback_hops(monkeypatch, cap, hop_refused):
+    """num_retries_per_request caps the retries of one request, fallback hops included. Each hop starts a
+    fresh per-hop attempted_retries at zero, so a cap read from that counter let every hop retry from zero
+    and a request could spend far more retries than the cap allows."""
+    monkeypatch.setattr(litellm, "num_retries_per_request", cap)
+    router = _failing_group_with_healthy_fallback_router(num_retries=1)
+    recorder = _FallbackAttemptRecorder()
+    litellm.callbacks.append(recorder)
+    try:
+        request = router.acompletion(model="broken-group", messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "hi"}])
+        if not hop_refused:
+            assert (await request).choices[0].message.content == "ok"
+            return
+        with pytest.raises(litellm.InternalServerError):
+            await request
+    finally:
+        litellm.callbacks.remove(recorder)
+
+    assert recorder.failed_targets == ["healthy-group"]
+    hop_refusals = [
+        record["attempted_retries"]
+        for record in recorder.breadcrumbs_per_target[0]
+        if record["model_group"] == "healthy-group" and "Max retries per request hit!" in record["exception_string"]
+    ]
+    assert hop_refusals == [0, 1]
+
+
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 async def test_fallback_traceback_stays_available_at_debug_level():
     """Dropping the stack from the ERROR line is only safe because the fallback path still
diff --git a/tests/test_litellm/test_utils.py b/tests/test_litellm/test_utils.py
index d5feda6f892..3d60fe86d9c 100644
--- a/tests/test_litellm/test_utils.py
+++ b/tests/test_litellm/test_utils.py
@@ -4077,10 +4077,11 @@ class TestMetadataNoneHandling:
 
 
 _RETRY_CAP_CASES: Final = (
-    pytest.param(5, {"attempted_retries": 5}, True, id="cap-above-four-reached"),
-    pytest.param(5, {"attempted_retries": 4}, False, id="cap-above-four-not-reached"),
-    pytest.param(0, {"attempted_retries": 0}, False, id="first-attempt-passes-cap-of-zero"),
-    pytest.param(0, {"attempted_retries": 1}, True, id="cap-of-zero-refuses-first-retry"),
+    pytest.param(5, {"request_retry_count": 5}, True, id="cap-above-four-reached"),
+    pytest.param(5, {"request_retry_count": 4}, False, id="cap-above-four-not-reached"),
+    pytest.param(0, {"request_retry_count": 0}, False, id="first-attempt-passes-cap-of-zero"),
+    pytest.param(0, {"request_retry_count": 1}, True, id="cap-of-zero-refuses-first-retry"),
+    pytest.param(0, {"attempted_retries": 1}, False, id="per-hop-attempted-retries-is-not-the-cap"),
     pytest.param(5, {"previous_models": ("a", "b", "c", "d", "e")}, False, id="breadcrumb-count-is-not-the-cap"),
     pytest.param(5, None, False, id="metadata-none"),
 )
@@ -4098,7 +4099,7 @@ def _capped_completion_kwargs(metadata_key: str, metadata: object) -> dict[str,
 
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("metadata_key", ["metadata", "litellm_metadata"])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("cap, metadata, refused", _RETRY_CAP_CASES)
-def test_num_retries_per_request_reads_attempted_retries_sync(monkeypatch, metadata_key, cap, metadata, refused):
+def test_num_retries_per_request_reads_request_retry_count_sync(monkeypatch, metadata_key, cap, metadata, refused):
     monkeypatch.setattr(litellm, "num_retries_per_request", cap)
     kwargs: Final = _capped_completion_kwargs(metadata_key, metadata)
     if refused:
@@ -4111,7 +4112,7 @@ def test_num_retries_per_request_reads_attempted_retries_sync(monkeypatch, metad
 @pytest.mark.asyncio
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("metadata_key", ["metadata", "litellm_metadata"])
 @pytest.mark.parametrize("cap, metadata, refused", _RETRY_CAP_CASES)
-async def test_num_retries_per_request_reads_attempted_retries_async(monkeypatch, metadata_key, cap, metadata, refused):
+async def test_num_retries_per_request_reads_request_retry_count_async(monkeypatch, metadata_key, cap, metadata, refused):
     monkeypatch.setattr(litellm, "num_retries_per_request", cap)
     kwargs: Final = _capped_completion_kwargs(metadata_key, metadata)
     if refused: