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"Don't care, Fennelheart. Now pay attention before I cuff your ear," Shinefang said to the warrior, frowning as he started to grow annoyed by how mouthy his former apprentice was being. "Some cats grow up but act like apprentices forever," he muttered.
He listened to Juniperpaw, caveat of washing one's paws after handling Yarrow, and nodded in agreement. "Yes, that's right Junebug. And speaking of washing your paws when you handle herbs, this probably goes without saying but wash them in moving water if you can. Like a stream or something. If you can't manage that, you can use a puddle, just don't be mousbrained and turn around and drink from the same puddle."
Shinefang looked at Owlwing and Pipitchirp, who seemed to be taking all of this information in silently. There were a thoughtful pair.
Shinefang cleared his throat, ready to move on. "Right then, so you've stopped your patient from bleeding to death. Congratulations! The worst part is over. But now you've got a cat who might be at risk for infection, which will still kill them, just a lot slower. So here are a couple of common herbs to try. Shinefang picked up two more items from his pile: a single, golden petal, and a dried leaf. "This right here is a marigold. If you happen to have these around, I think they're better for preventing infections. Oak leaves like this one, are all over the place here in Skyclan. I don't think they work as well by themselves as marigold, but they're still good, and certainly better than nothing. Now, if your patient is bleeding profusely, again, you need to stop the bleeding before you do anything else. But if you have a small cut or a thorn or some other injury that looks like it will stop bleeding, you can go ahead and apply either one of these. All you have to do is chew them into a poultice. Just clean blood and grit of the wound with your tongue, or have the other cat do it if they can, pop a piece of the plant in your mouth, chew it up until you've got yourself a nice paste, and smear it on the wound. Important thing here! If you use marigold, you have to wash out your mouth when you're done. Some marigold is toxic to swallow. Some isn't. It's weird. Just don't risk it. Also, don't let your patient lick it off themselves. You can chew up the petals, the leaves, or both. As for the oak leaves, they're a lot more user friendly. Chew them up, swear them on the wound, wash your mouth or don't. They're not toxic. They just don't taste good and they feel gritty in your mouth. In case you're having trouble figuring out if a leaf is an oak leaf, look under the tree you got it from. If there are acorns, its an oak...don't eat the acorns though. Those
are toxic. I don't know why you would, but, you know...don't. Anyway! Like I said, here in Skyclan, we are just lousy with oak leaves. So..." Shinfang turned and grabbed a pile he had set aside and left them where each cat could grab one, "pair up and practice chewing up and applying your poultices. Can't have that cat you just saved die from an infection after all that, can you?" Shinefang waved his paw in a "go ahead" motion.
