This is not needed, the cast should be done here https://github.com/DataDog/dd-agent/blob/56ef94b8338b678d6238c84b8caf114773f3b721/checks/__init__.py#L282 and here https://github.com/DataDog/dd-agent/blob/56ef94b8338b678d6238c84b8caf114773f3b721/dogstatsd.py#L257