diff --git a/litellm/integrations/slack_alerting.py b/litellm/integrations/slack_alerting.py
index b42f6d799b3..bf0f5c07d20 100644
--- a/litellm/integrations/slack_alerting.py
+++ b/litellm/integrations/slack_alerting.py
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ class SlackAlerting(CustomLogger):
     # Class variables or attributes
     def __init__(
         self,
-        internal_usage_cache: DualCache,
+        internal_usage_cache: Optional[DualCache] = None,
         alerting_threshold: float = 300,
         alerting: Optional[List] = [],
         alert_types: Optional[
@@ -101,7 +101,7 @@ class SlackAlerting(CustomLogger):
         self.alerting_threshold = alerting_threshold
         self.alerting = alerting
         self.alert_types = alert_types
-        self.internal_usage_cache = internal_usage_cache
+        self.internal_usage_cache = internal_usage_cache or DualCache()
         self.async_http_handler = AsyncHTTPHandler()
         self.alert_to_webhook_url = alert_to_webhook_url
         self.is_running = False
diff --git a/litellm/tests/test_alerting.py b/litellm/tests/test_alerting.py
index dd77a0d3135..c4b6157bcf4 100644
--- a/litellm/tests/test_alerting.py
+++ b/litellm/tests/test_alerting.py
@@ -98,7 +98,10 @@ def mock_env(monkeypatch):
 # Test the __init__ method
 def test_init():
     slack_alerting = SlackAlerting(
-        alerting_threshold=32, alerting=["slack"], alert_types=["llm_exceptions"]
+        alerting_threshold=32,
+        alerting=["slack"],
+        alert_types=["llm_exceptions"],
+        internal_usage_cache=DualCache(),
     )
     assert slack_alerting.alerting_threshold == 32
     assert slack_alerting.alerting == ["slack"]