diff --git a/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh b/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
index 576436886c..2dd89ff7f8 100644
--- a/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
+++ b/bin/tests/system/catz/tests.sh
@@ -85,8 +85,8 @@ n=0
 n=$((n + 1))
 echo_i "checking that catalog-bad1.example (with no version) has failed to load ($n)"
 ret=0
-wait_for_message ns2/named.run "catz: zone 'catalog-bad1.example' has no 'version' record and will not be processed" \
-  && if [ $ret -ne 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
+wait_for_message ns2/named.run "catz: zone 'catalog-bad1.example' has no 'version' record (partial match) and will not be processed" || ret=1
+if [ $ret -ne 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
 status=$((status + ret))
 
 n=$((n + 1))
@@ -851,8 +851,8 @@ status=$((status + ret))
 n=$((n + 1))
 echo_i "waiting for secondary to sync up ($n)"
 ret=0
-wait_for_message ns2/named.run "catz: adding zone 'dom-existing-forward-off.example' from catalog 'catalog1.example'" \
-  && if [ $ret -ne 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
+wait_for_message ns2/named.run "catz: adding zone 'dom-existing-forward-off.example' from catalog 'catalog1.example'" || ret=1
+if [ $ret -ne 0 ]; then echo_i "failed"; fi
 status=$((status + ret))
 
 n=$((n + 1))