diff --git a/message_reader.go b/message_reader.go
index 152d2623..40b13da5 100644
--- a/message_reader.go
+++ b/message_reader.go
@@ -5,53 +5,47 @@ import (
 	"encoding/binary"
 )
 
-type MessageReader []byte
+type MessageReader struct {
+	buf *bytes.Buffer
+}
 
 func newMessageReader(buf *bytes.Buffer) *MessageReader {
-	r := MessageReader(buf.Bytes())
-	return &r
+	return &MessageReader{buf: buf}
 }
 
 func (r *MessageReader) ReadByte() byte {
-	b := (*r)[0]
-	*r = (*r)[1:]
+	b, err := r.buf.ReadByte()
+	if err != nil {
+		panic("Unable to read byte")
+	}
 	return b
 }
 
 func (r *MessageReader) ReadInt16() int16 {
-	n := int16(binary.BigEndian.Uint16((*r)[:2]))
-	*r = (*r)[2:]
-	return n
+	return int16(binary.BigEndian.Uint16(r.buf.Next(2)))
 }
 
 func (r *MessageReader) ReadInt32() int32 {
-	n := int32(binary.BigEndian.Uint32((*r)[:4]))
-	*r = (*r)[4:]
-	return n
+	return int32(binary.BigEndian.Uint32(r.buf.Next(4)))
 }
 
 func (r *MessageReader) ReadInt64() int64 {
-	n := int64(binary.BigEndian.Uint64((*r)[:8]))
-	*r = (*r)[8:]
-	return n
+	return int64(binary.BigEndian.Uint64(r.buf.Next(8)))
 }
 
 func (r *MessageReader) ReadOid() oid {
-	n := oid(binary.BigEndian.Uint32((*r)[:4]))
-	*r = (*r)[4:]
-	return n
+	return oid(binary.BigEndian.Uint32(r.buf.Next(4)))
 }
 
 func (r *MessageReader) ReadString() string {
-	n := bytes.IndexByte(*r, 0)
-	s := (*r)[:n]
-	*r = (*r)[n+1:]
-	return string(s)
+	b, err := r.buf.ReadBytes(0)
+	if err != nil {
+		panic("Unable to read string")
+	}
+	return string(b[:len(b)-1])
 }
 
 // Read count bytes and return as string
 func (r *MessageReader) ReadByteString(count int32) string {
-	s := (*r)[:count]
-	*r = (*r)[count:]
-	return string(s)
+	return string(r.buf.Next(int(count)))
 }