diff --git a/jobs/cache_maintenance/src/cache_maintenance/cache_metrics.py b/jobs/cache_maintenance/src/cache_maintenance/cache_metrics.py
index dbe015d4b..37e45f534 100644
--- a/jobs/cache_maintenance/src/cache_maintenance/cache_metrics.py
+++ b/jobs/cache_maintenance/src/cache_maintenance/cache_metrics.py
@@ -31,9 +31,12 @@ def collect_cache_metrics() -> None:
         logging.info(f"{kind=} {http_status=} {error_code=} has been deleted")
 
     for (kind, http_status, error_code), total in new_metric_by_id.items():
-        CacheTotalMetricDocument.objects(kind=kind, http_status=http_status, error_code=error_code).upsert_one(
-            total=total
-        )
+        #add a validation to force total to be non-negative
+        if total < 0:
+            logging.warning(f"Negative metric value for {kind=} {http_status=} {error_code=}: {total=}. Setting to 0.")
+            total = 0
+
+        CacheTotalMetricDocument.objects(kind=kind, http_status=http_status, error_code=error_code).upsert_one(total=total)
         logging.info(f"{kind=} {http_status=} {error_code=}: {total=} has been inserted")
 
     logging.info("cache metrics have been updated")