diff --git a/gstatsd/client.py b/gstatsd/client.py
index f881f80..34bcf8a 100644
--- a/gstatsd/client.py
+++ b/gstatsd/client.py
@@ -20,10 +20,13 @@ class StatsClient(object):
             hostport = StatsClient.HOSTPORT
         self._hostport = hostport
         self._sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
-        
+
     def timer(self, key, timestamp, sample_rate=1):
         self._send('%s:%d|ms' % (key, round(timestamp)), sample_rate)
 
+    def gauge(self, key, value, sample_rate=1):
+        self._send('%s:%d|g' % (key, value), sample_rate)
+
     def increment(self, key, sample_rate=1):
         return self.counter(key, 1, sample_rate)
 
@@ -85,6 +88,17 @@ class StatsTimer(object):
         self._started = 0
 
 
+class StatsGauge(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, client, key, sample_rate=1):
+        self._client = client
+        self._key = key
+        self._sample_rate = sample_rate
+
+    def set(self, value):
+        self._client.gauge(self._key, value, self._sample_rate)
+
+
 class Stats(object):
 
     def __init__(self, client):
@@ -96,3 +110,5 @@ class Stats(object):
     def get_timer(self, key):
         return StatsTimer(self._client, key)
 
+    def get_gauge(self, key):
+        return StatsGauge(self._client, key)
diff --git a/gstatsd/client_test.py b/gstatsd/client_test.py
index 70958dd..0783098 100644
--- a/gstatsd/client_test.py
+++ b/gstatsd/client_test.py
@@ -53,6 +53,14 @@ class StatsClientTest(unittest.TestCase):
         self._cli.counter('foo', 1, 0.2)
         self.assertEquals(self._cli.packets[-1], ('foo:1|c', 0.2))
 
+    def test_gauge(self):
+        self._cli.gauge('foo', 5)
+        self.assertEquals(self._cli.packets[-1], ('foo:5|g', 1))
+        self._cli.counter('foo', -50)
+        self.assertEquals(self._cli.packets[-1], ('foo:-50|g', 1))
+        self._cli.counter('foo', 5.9)
+        self.assertEquals(self._cli.packets[-1], ('foo:5.9|g', 1))
+
 
 class StatsTest(unittest.TestCase):
 
@@ -86,4 +94,3 @@ def main():
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     main()
-
diff --git a/gstatsd/service.py b/gstatsd/service.py
index ae009ea..7130965 100644
--- a/gstatsd/service.py
+++ b/gstatsd/service.py
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ class Stats(object):
     def __init__(self):
         self.timers = defaultdict(list)
         self.counts = defaultdict(float)
+        self.gauges = defaultdict(float)
         self.percent = PERCENT
         self.interval = INTERVAL
 
@@ -163,7 +164,7 @@ class StatsDaemon(object):
         self._flush_task = gevent.spawn(_flush_impl)
 
         # start accepting connections
-        self._sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM, 
+        self._sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM,
             socket.IPPROTO_UDP)
         self._sock.bind(self._bindaddr)
         while 1:
@@ -206,12 +207,16 @@ class StatsDaemon(object):
                     srate = float(fields[2][1:])
                 value = float(value if value else 1) * (1 / srate)
                 stats.counts[key] += value
+            elif stype == 'g':
+                value = float(value if value else 1)
+                stats.gauges[key] = value
+
 
 
 def main():
     opts = optparse.OptionParser(description=DESCRIPTION, version=__version__,
         add_help_option=False)
-    opts.add_option('-b', '--bind', dest='bind_addr', default=':8125', 
+    opts.add_option('-b', '--bind', dest='bind_addr', default=':8125',
         help="bind [host]:port (host defaults to '')")
     opts.add_option('-s', '--sink', dest='sink', action='append', default=[],
         help="a graphite service to which stats are sent ([host]:port).")
@@ -239,8 +244,7 @@ def main():
     sd = StatsDaemon(options.bind_addr, options.sink, options.interval,
         options.percent, options.verbose)
     sd.start()
- 
+
 
 if __name__ == '__main__':
     main()
-
diff --git a/gstatsd/sink.py b/gstatsd/sink.py
index 588c9d3..8d51a32 100644
--- a/gstatsd/sink.py
+++ b/gstatsd/sink.py
@@ -86,6 +86,13 @@ class GraphiteSink(Sink):
             buf.write('stats_counts.%s %f %d\n' % (key, val, now))
             num_stats += 1
 
+        # counter stats
+        gauges = stats.gauges
+        for key, val in gauges.iteritems():
+            buf.write('stats.%s %f %d\n' % (key, val, now))
+            buf.write('stats_counts.%s %f %d\n' % (key, val, now))
+            num_stats += 1
+
         buf.write('statsd.numStats %d %d\n' % (num_stats, now))
 
         # TODO: add support for N retries
@@ -99,4 +106,3 @@ class GraphiteSink(Sink):
                 sock.close()
             except Exception, ex:
                 self.error(E_SENDFAIL % ('graphite', host, ex))
-