Veterinary Medical Terminology 101: Purulent

A pussy cat with a purulent abcess. Photo: Zemlinki!

For some reason, purulent is just one of those words that gets my tongue tied. I never feel like I'm pronouncing it properly and I feel like I just can't say it the right way. Purulent is pronounced pyoo-ruh-luhnt and it's definition is the following according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary:

"Containing, consisting of, or being pus."

OK, so I apologize for the gross word today but this is one word that a lot of people are unsure about. How so? Let me explain a little bit. 

When I was new to the world of Veterinary Medicine, I would occasionally come across a patient who might have an abcess or sore of some type. Pus is a regular occurrence at a vet hospital. One day, while trying to write down my description of a patient's wound in their medical file, I became stumped. 

At first I was inclined to write "pussy" on the paper... but that just didn't seem right. Besides, I didn't want to write that word down and look like an idiot. I decided to stick with "pus-y" instead. I brought the file to the doctor I was assisting so she could read my notes and we could talk about the patient. 

We also discussed the proper way to describe something that contains pus. You don't say a "pussy sore" or "pusy sore". The right way to describe a sore that contains pus would be to say that it is purulent. 

Several years later, I was relieved to see that I wasn't the only technician who had ever made this mistake. I would see other technicians writing the same things I did down.