Warriors: What If?

Medicine Cats

Question: What if the role of medicine cats had never been established?
(Note: Fire came up with the question).

What if the role of medicine cats had never been established?

Well, to start this off, I'm sure the Clan cats would have learned to use some basic herbs, like cobwebs for stopping bleeding or poppy seeds for sleeping. They would learn to use only a couple things, though, since there wouldn't be a cat dedicated to learning how to use these herbs.

So, in battles, cats would be a lot quicker to surrender, since there wouldn't be much to heal their injuries. There also would be a lot of elders, since there would be no way to fix joints that pop out of place or attempt to heal broken legs/paws.

Greencough would be much, MUCH more deadly, and I bet that a cat who would so much as cough during leaf-bare would be quarantined as soon as possible. It would be a huge fear without catmint to heal it, and even sometimes that doesn't work!

In Tallstar's Revenge, Tallstar suggested that they should take the injured Hopkit to the Twolegs to get healed. I think this sort of practice would become more common for injured cats, and a lot of injured warriors who had to retire probably would become kittypets or something, since they have so much time left yet horrible injuries.

Animals like foxes and badgers would be much more feared, and like in battle, cats would flee more often, leading these dangerous animals back into camp.

Aside from injuries and disease, there is also the StarClan aspect. Instead of medicine cats receiving omens, the leader would probably be stuck with that responsibility. 

The Clans would be much more hostile to each other, since there are no medicine cats who have that "special bond" with each other. In the Warrior books, Clans lending herbs to each other was quite frequent, so without this need, the Clans wouldn't interact as much, and as a result, they would be more hostile.

Cats who were supposed to become medicine cats, like Alderpaw from The Apprentice's Quest, would be stuck serving as pretty bad warriors. They would never really find there place, and having one really horrid warrior could tip the results of a battle.

So, basically, without medicine cats, the Clans would be screwed.

~ Rio