diff --git a/changes.txt b/changes.txt
index 7d375fb867..bfc669cdcd 100644
--- a/changes.txt
+++ b/changes.txt
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 CHANGES
 
+2014-10-05
+- Improve exception handling in Type::getDocument() #693
+
 2014-10-04
 - Release v1.3.4.0
 - Update to elasticsearch 1.3.4 #691
diff --git a/lib/Elastica/Type.php b/lib/Elastica/Type.php
index 1ed952db87..a1df44de78 100644
--- a/lib/Elastica/Type.php
+++ b/lib/Elastica/Type.php
@@ -228,7 +228,7 @@ public function getDocument($id, $options = array())
             $response = $this->request($path, Request::GET, array(), $options);
             $result = $response->getData();
         } catch (ResponseException $e) {
-            throw new NotFoundException('doc id ' . $id . ' not found');
+            throw new NotFoundException('unable to retrieve doc id ' . $id. ': '.$e->getMessage(), $e->getCode(), $e);
         }
 
         $info = $response->getTransferInfo();