diff --git a/gerritlib/gerrit.py b/gerritlib/gerrit.py
index 0089bc9..3d78fca 100644
--- a/gerritlib/gerrit.py
+++ b/gerritlib/gerrit.py
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@
 
 import json
 import logging
+import platform
 import pprint
 import select
 import six.moves
@@ -34,6 +35,7 @@ UPDATE_ALLOWED_KEYS = ['description', 'submit-type',
                        'content-merge', 'change-id',
                        'project-state',
                        'max-object-size-limit']
+IS_LINUX = platform.system() == "Linux"
 
 
 class GerritConnection(object):
@@ -148,10 +150,13 @@ class GerritWatcher(threading.Thread):
             ret = poll.poll()
             for (fd, event) in ret:
                 if fd == stdout.channel.fileno():
-                    if event == select.POLLIN:
+                    # event is a bitmask
+                    # On Darwin non-critical OOB messages can be received
+                    if (IS_LINUX and event == select.POLLIN) or \
+                            (not IS_LINUX and event & select.POLLIN):
                         self._read(stdout)
                     else:
-                        raise Exception("event on ssh connection")
+                        raise Exception("event %s on ssh connection" % event)
 
     def _consume(self, client):
         """Consumes events using the given client."""