diff --git a/NEWS.md b/NEWS.md
index f750359..68596f2 100644
--- a/NEWS.md
+++ b/NEWS.md
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 * dramatically improved efficiency in certain post-processing functions for multiseason models
 * CI runs properly
 * backend hygiene improvements
+* updated compatibility with upcoming changes to `loo_compare()` output
+  structure in the `loo` package (> 2.9.0), which now returns a data frame
+  instead of a matrix and includes additional diagnostic columns.
 
 # flocker 1.0-1
 * fixed a bug that was throwing an uninformative error when making predictions in multiseason models where history_condition is TRUE
diff --git a/R/loo.R b/R/loo.R
index 77918f3..f592b96 100644
--- a/R/loo.R
+++ b/R/loo.R
@@ -63,7 +63,7 @@ loo_flocker_onefit <- function(x, thin = NULL) {
 #' @param thin specify the amount of thinning required. 1 or NULL results in no 
 #'    thinning, 2 retains every other value, 3 every third, etc.
 #' @param model_names An optional vector of names for the models.
-#' @return a `compare.loo` matrix
+#' @return a `compare.loo` object
 #' @export
 #' @examples
 #' \dontrun{
diff --git a/man/loo_compare_flocker.Rd b/man/loo_compare_flocker.Rd
index d5faaa5..fec16d8 100644
--- a/man/loo_compare_flocker.Rd
+++ b/man/loo_compare_flocker.Rd
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ loo_compare_flocker(model_list, model_names = NULL, thin = NULL)
 thinning, 2 retains every other value, 3 every third, etc.}
 }
 \value{
-a `compare.loo` matrix
+a `compare.loo` object
 }
 \description{
 LOO comparisons for flocker models.
diff --git a/tests/testthat/test-loo_flocker.R b/tests/testthat/test-loo_flocker.R
index d095e76..d846024 100644
--- a/tests/testthat/test-loo_flocker.R
+++ b/tests/testthat/test-loo_flocker.R
@@ -43,8 +43,16 @@ test_that("loo_compare_flocker works correctly", {
   # check model naming
   suppressWarnings(test_compare <- loo_compare_flocker(list(example_flocker_model_single2, example_flocker_model_single2), 
                                       model_names = c("m1", "m2"), thin = 2))
-  expect_identical(row.names(test_compare), c("m1", "m2"))
+  if ("model" %in% colnames(test_compare)) {
+    expect_identical(test_compare$model, c("m1", "m2"))
+  } else {
+    expect_identical(row.names(test_compare), c("m1", "m2"))
+  }
   
   # check test output identical
-  expect_true(all(apply(test_compare, 2, diff) == 0))
+  if ("model" %in% colnames(test_compare)) {
+    expect_true(all(apply(test_compare[,c(2,3)], 2, diff) == 0))
+  } else {
+    expect_true(all(apply(test_compare, 2, diff) == 0))
+  }
 })