Helping & Healing Paws [ Healing/Herb Lessons ]

[Omari]

Drizzlecloud
Thunderclan
She/her

Well, she was still missing someone, but this would do. If they wanted to learn, then they would come and partake in her lessons on their own accord. Now, she had to get started, because some cats were willing to learn more than others were.

“Alright, first we’ll be going over the basics of dressing flesh wounds… I’ll be giving a general warning on the contents of each lesson, just in case. Some of these things are sensitive matters, so I would not blame any of you if you needed to step out for some of the harsher lessons. However, these are the hardships that we must face during clan life, so as much as I do advise you to stick around, it is not necessary.” Mainly that was aimed to Woodpaw, as he was the youngest cat included within her group, as far as she was aware.

“A-okay! Let’s get started then, shall we?” To her left was a clump of moss, not too big but not too small, a single head of a marigold, and they sat alongside a large ball of cobwebs. “When it comes to your average flesh wounds, such as bites, scratches and scrapes, you name it–we want to make sure that the bleeding stops before we do anything else. In case of emergencies if you have no cobwebs on hand, you can apply pressure with your paws in an attempt to help in promoting blood clots… But, having cobwebs or even moss on hand would be more helpful.”

Lifting her paw, she patted Snakefang’s torso gently. “Let’s say that Snakefang got a particularly nasty gash on her side here. Hopefully after the bleeding stops, we would focus on cleaning up the wound with some moss soaked with water.” Her tail-tip flicked the moss clump at her side before she continued. “Simply, you’d just dab it along the wound and clean it up a bit. This is done to limit the possibility of any infection. After this, we like to apply a marigold poultice to the wound–which is this flower here. It’s our most used herb, as it’s used to help with any infections, so it’s best to apply it right off the hop so we can immediately fight off that possibility!”

“Snakefang, could you sit up for a moment, dear? Going to wrap you up!” She purred to the warrior before she continued. “To make a poultice, you just chew up the marigold in your mouth… It’s a little bitter, certainly an acquired taste–and with that poultice, depending on the wound you can either apply it directly to the wound itself, or onto some cobwebs, and then you wrap the wound with said cobwebs. That’s just personal preference, though. As long as the poultice is on the wound, then it will do it’s job..”

She snagged the ball of cobwebs at her side, unfurling it and kneading it so it was easier to use. “When it comes to actually wrapping and bandaging, it certainly takes some practice, but we want the cobwebs to be a bit on the tighter side–not tight enough to completely restrict movement, but enough to stop any blood flowing from the wound, to keep the poultice in place, and, well, to keep the bandage itself in place.”

[ next post on May 13th! ]

[ @Blazing - Woodpaw, @Seamrog - Snakefang, @BEAR. - Wolfhive, @Zero_2001 - Venombone, @furrensic - Dovesinge, @Littlesun0112 - Riversong, @MaplestrikeWCUE - Beetail ]

[Blazing]

Woodpaw

He could tell the first part of Drizzlecloud’s speech was directed towards him. Woodpaw was unsure at first, but he believed he should be fine. Unfazed, the apprentice would nod his head with a flash of smile to ensure that he was fine.

Then, watching as the medicine cat show the basics, he listened closely and sniffed the scent of marigold slightly. Nothing seemed really bad right now— all have had wounds before. If minor ones like this, he was quite sure he could do it. Just the wrapping part being harder.

[Littlesun0112]

Riversong watched intently as Drizzlecloud demonstrated the cobweb method. It didn't seem too hard - just stuff a whole pile of cobwebs onto the wound to stop it from bleeding. And if the wound was red, grab that fluffy-looking yellow thing that was nearly everywhere in the forest. That's what it looked like, at least. Riversong could only hope that the rest of the lessons would be this simple. A lone thought strayed into the back of their mind. "What if it's one of those big wounds?" they mewed quietly. "Like one of those torn-throat ones? Where the cobwebs, no matter how much, won't work?" It was... a gruesome idea, but for some reason, Riversong couldn't get that image out of their head. It seemed frighteningly familiar, as if it happened to some cat they knew. Something that they needed to clarify, to prevent from happening ever again. They choked out their last question. "Then, are we supposed to leave those cats to die?"