diff --git a/vm-virtio/src/device.rs b/vm-virtio/src/device.rs
index f149fafda..fe6726835 100644
--- a/vm-virtio/src/device.rs
+++ b/vm-virtio/src/device.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@
 // SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0 AND BSD-3-Clause
 
 use crate::{ActivateResult, Error, Queue};
+use std::collections::HashMap;
+use std::num::Wrapping;
 use std::sync::Arc;
 use vm_memory::{GuestAddress, GuestMemoryAtomic, GuestMemoryMmap, GuestUsize};
 use vmm_sys_util::eventfd::EventFd;
@@ -134,6 +136,11 @@ pub trait VirtioDevice: Send {
     fn userspace_mappings(&self) -> Vec<UserspaceMapping> {
         Vec::new()
     }
+
+    /// Return the counters that this device exposes
+    fn counters(&self) -> Option<HashMap<&'static str, Wrapping<u64>>> {
+        None
+    }
 }
 
 /// Trait providing address translation the same way a physical DMA remapping