diff --git a/src/rpc/virnetclient.c b/src/rpc/virnetclient.c
index 43a9814b78dfeb76daee0a29d7b1a16048ebd3a9..727ed67ee866ac598dc7733c93a572d1b6c842c8 100644
--- a/src/rpc/virnetclient.c
+++ b/src/rpc/virnetclient.c
@@ -1205,7 +1205,10 @@ virNetClientIOHandleOutput(virNetClientPtr client)
         thecall = thecall->next;
 
     if (!thecall)
-        return -1; /* Shouldn't happen, but you never know... */
+        return 0; /* This can happen if another thread raced with us and
+                   * completed the call between the time this thread woke
+                   * up from poll()ing and the time we locked the client
+                   */
 
     while (thecall) {
         ssize_t ret = virNetClientIOWriteMessage(client, thecall);