The medicine cat serves the Clan as both their spiritual leader and healer, making them akin to the idea of a 'medicine man' in a tribal society.[60] In addition to their responsibilities to their Clan, they have responsibility to one another and StarClan. They carry out their responsibilities to StarClan once every half-moon, meeting together to discuss matters privately and share dreams with StarClan.[61] Clan leaders often rely on them to carry messages from StarClan, as medicine cats have a link no other cat has to their ancestors.[60] In their role as spiritual leader, they teach the code, interpret omens and prophecies, and generally serve the Clan as a conduit between the earthly cats and their ghostly counterparts.[60] As a healer, they gather herbs and dispense them as an apothecary would. They handle diagnosis and treatment of both illness and injury for all the cats in the Clan.[62] As a medicine cat, they are not allowed to have a mate or kits,[63] but this rule has been broken by certain medicine cats (for example, Leafpool and Yellowfang). Medicine cats also exist outside of typical Clan rivalries in order to treat all cats fairly.[64] Medicine cats serve as the third-most powerful member in Clan heirarchy, falling behind the leader and deputy. As such, if the aforementioned individuals are unavailable, the medicine cat (typically the one with most seniority should one be present[65]) serves as the acting leadership figure for the Clan until a suitable replacement is found. Examples of this are Redscar,[66] Runningnose,[67][68] and Mothwing[65][69] who served all three positions when their leader and deputy had died.
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