Vampire Appetite

[white avenger]

Has it ever been established just how much blood a vampire needs per day to stay well fed and healthy? They are capable of completely draining a human, or at least taking enough blood to make their victim die from blood loss, but neither Spike nor Angel are ever shown drinking more than a cupful at a time (the parallel to a morning cup of coffee I suppose), but it would seem to me that there just wouldn't be enough nutrients in that single cup to keep a vampire going,

 

[palabravampiress]

Good question, WA!

My theory is that it has less to do with nutrients and normal chemical reactions than it has to do with the magical/symbolic value of blood. According to my theory, blood represents life so that the act of imbibing blood temporarily imbues the drinker life. Hence, the smaller the quantity of blood or the lower the quality of blood that a vampire drinks, the more "dead" he or she appears.

I play with this idea in my developing Wishverse story. The following paragraph sort of explains my theory as it would work in practice way better than the above, so here's a snippet:

He was alive again. As soon as Xander latched on, his father's heartbeat became his own. With his pulse, Xander's own blood rushed. The warm liquid flowed between his fangs, bathing his lapping tongue, which suddenly softened. Down his throat, the blood gushed, awakening every particle it touched. In a heady chain reaction of sensation, cell joined cell until his entire body hummed with activity. The blood throbbed in his veins. His cheeks flushed. An internal throbbing, flowing, windy whirlwind of sound made his eardrums flutter. His father's emotions and responses and chemical reactions became his own, enzymes locking into place drop by drop. His adrenaline levels surged. His body warmed. His skin, which had been so cold and still, tingled. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The fear was intoxicating! He flushed. He glowed. There was a heartbeat, even. Just one. A single beat. The blood was the life.

So, yeah. That's my theory. In my head and in my little version of the Buffyverse, at least, that's how the blood thing works. I'm sure n4h or someone will have a more logical theory to offer, though. 🙂

 

[Blondie Bear]

That might be all we SEE them drinking, but Buffy keeps saying stuff like "drained of blood," so I think the vamps, well, drain the people. It just takes so long to drain the human body through "two little little holes" that it would take nearly the entire episode to watch it all.

 

[Lou]

COME ON! Cut them a break! It's quite difficult to carry about a bath tub of blood! It's MUCH easier to sip out of a cup....you just have to keep refilling!
:hehe:

BTW, is THIS guy:: fantom Orko from He-Man?

 

[Kemy]

It takes from 6 weeks to 3 months to recover from blood loss in non-lethal quantities depending on how much is taken, from a half of a pint up to 3, anymore than 3 taken quickly from the body results in it shutting down, or is it 5.

Carmilla loved to take small amounts, feeding for months until the victim was anemic but still alive, becoming quite...worked up around Laura. Then again she sneaked into the village and took other victims from time to time.

Dracula was old and withered from not having fed, eating only babies he stole away from mothers in the villages from time to time, often allowing his wives to take most of the feast. He could live on incredibly little.

Lestat was mauled until nearly drained entirely by Claudia's attack, came back to them scarred and gaunt as a zombie but lived for days like this without blood.

The you have a character in the Vampire Chronicles, I forget the name, that Pandora knew, who gorged himself on Human blood until he was physically bloated and leaking blood, suffused with so much he was livid with euphoria.

So I'd say they can go on nearly forever on small amounts, a baby worth every 3 to 6 weeks. Or they can have a healthy amount of say a pint a day. Or they can be greedy and pig out on a body worth a day or more.