Could you give a man-sized chicken a blood transplant?

[generic mook]

This is the scenario: a man-sized (6' tall) rooster has been shot repeatedly with an assault rifle. A vet is present with equipment.

Could they save this rooster's life by giving him a blood transplant? If so, how would this work?

All answers are welcome (although I prefer serious answers, in spite of how ludicrous the question is). Both real life and GURPS-rules-oriented answers are fine.

[Nereidalbel]

If the only difference is size and all other organs are the same, probably. You'd need a LOT of blood, though.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by generic mook

Could they save this rooster's life by giving him a blood transplant?

Assuming a suitable supply of blood (not likely to be on hand, and you'd probably have to do primitive blood typing; artificial blood might work) and suitable experience on the part of the vet (I doubt that chickens are normally given blood transfusions), probably.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Nereidalbel

If the only difference is size and all other organs are the same, probably. You'd need a LOT of blood, though.

You'll need a LOT of *giant chicken* blood. Which may or may not be something vets would have on hand. I would expect they wouldn't even in settings where giant chickens were fairly common unless there is some reason people often bring in their giant chickens for blood replacement.

And of course you need for blood loss to be the only thing likely to cause death. People shot *repeatedly* with an assault rifle will frequently have serious trauma to vital organs. There's no particular reason a blood transfusion would work any better or worse on a giant chicken than on a human.

[Purple Haze]

I think if you have a setting with 6' tall chickens who are being shot with assault rifles it is likely somebody has transfused one before.

I'd wager in our world horses are transfused with some frequency. Though the likelyhood of some random vet having a supply is probably effectively zero.

[Say, it isn't that bad!]

If giant chickens are sapient and a significant part of the population, most doctors will have a supply of giant chicken blood on hand. There will also be giant chicken medical specialists.

[PTTG]

Perhaps the blood supply could come from dozens of regular-sized chickens?

Note that, being a bird, it might be more prone to bone damage and that might heal poorly.

Incidentally, I suspect that this is a truly awesome campaign you're running...

[Anaraxes]

Current veterinary practice includes transfusions. There are blood banks for common pets like dogs and cats. Avian transfusions are less common, but also studied and performed. This article suggests that not a lot of work has been done on establishing a formal typology for avian blood types, though it does describe testing compatibility between a particular donor and recipient -- which, interestingly, don't even have to be the same species, though apparently that makes success more likely.

The procedure is more or less the same as for humans: poke a needle into a vein, preferably run the blood through a filter, put it into the recipient. The linked article also mentions an intraosseous transfer as opposed to intravenous, which if nothing else sounds painful.

in spite of how ludicrous the question is

Hey, this is the GURPS forum. We cover anything from detailed analysis of the physics of near-C cream pie planetary impactors to intelligent psychic blueberry muffins. Giant chicken trauma med practice isn't even approaching the boundary of ludicrousness.

[panton41]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Hey, this is the GURPS forum. We cover anything from detailed analysis of the physics of near-C cream pie planetary impactors to intelligent psychic blueberry muffins. Giant chicken trauma med practice isn't even approaching the boundary of ludicrousness.

My first thought was a drunken gamer discussion about Family Guy that spiraled out of control.

[DangerousThing]

Because birds have different blood types than mammals do, you'd probably need to get blood from other giant chickens.

However, I'd be more worried about the bullet wounds. Birds have hollow and very fragile bones. The bone fragments could act as shrapnel.