Why do pets get diarrhea or soft stools?

Pets get diarrhea/soft stools from a variety of reasons. These reasons include a change of diet, eating rich or spoiled food, a change of water source, stress, viral infection, bacterial infection, liver/kidney/pancreas problems, and protozoan infections. Any diarrhea/soft stool that lasts more than two eliminations, or any stool with blood or straining, justifies an immediate examination by one of the Windmill Animal Hospital doctors, due to how serious some causes of diarrhea can be.

Also, many bacterial and protozoan infections in dog and cat diarrhea cases are highly contagious to humans--the sooner the pet's diarrhea/soft stool problem is dealt with properly, the lower the risk that the humans in the household will be affected.