How did YOU become furry? =)

[Spink]

I became furry, probably before I knew there was a fandom for it. Ever since I watched Disney's adaptation of Robin Hood, I found a general appeal towards anthropomorphic art and movies, particularly done in the 2-D style because the colors always seem more vibrant in a 2-D drawing versus a 3-D model. Plus, from people I know/met, the members of this particular fandom are a lot more open-minded, and tolerant of other people and other ideas and are just generally more fun to talk to. I've never written a furry piece, mostly because I'm more paranoid of someone finding it and making all sorts of comments, though I've recently started to try drawing my fursona. I've only ever done the head so far, having botched the first two with the third needing a little less of a human quality to it.

In the end, I'm pretty sure it was the liveliness of the community and the art that drew me in. This fandom probably covers more art than many other fandoms out there, from plushies, to sketches, to paintings, to comics, to stories, to 3-D models and sculptures/figures, to the fursuits (some of them are really amazing in design), to just about anything else. And even though I suck at art, I do appreciate it.

[Kite]

Like most've said, I was probably a furry many, many years before I even realised it. I always loved reading books, especially about animal characters and whenever I watched TV, the furry characters appealed to me miles more than human characters. On top of that, one of my favourite characters is Tails and I loved the Sonic franchise in general.

On the playground when we used to play those silly games ('back in the day' flashback nostalgia there :O) I always wanted to be the two-legged animal, probably because I love animals. My dog was probably also an influence, I loved playing around with her and her puppies when she had some, and there's probably some form of influence down that line aswell.

A few years back, I was browsing through random art and stumbled across furry and neko stuff. It really seemed to appeal to me instantly, I loved the whole human-like animal thing, and it wasn't long before I was drawing them myself, without realising there was a fandom for it - all I knew was it was called "anthropomorphic". I also found on DeviantArt that one of the options for being there was to meet other furries, which back then I had no idea what it was, but it sounded interesting. After that, I found out what a furry actually was and a little while after found out there was a whole fandom for it. Needless to say, I seen it and instantly thought "wow, this is perfect!"

I also found out what yiff meant before I even knew about the fandom, which must be a bit worrying. Curiosity got the better of me at the time and I had to find out what it was all about 

[Daemon]

I originally was into Dungeons and Dragons, waaaaaay in the beginning. Through that, I almost literally fell in love with half-dragons. Through that, I got curious and look up art with it. And found articles on "scalies". I investigated that, and learned of another form, known as Furries. But I was still unsure. My brain is cloudy right now, so I dont remember much next, but thats how I became a fur.

[simsal]

Well i had always been a fan of the art of furrys but i never really classed myself as one for just looking at the art that people had made. One day i was playing with a random person and we became close friends and after a while he said he was a furry. At first i thought he wont be happy im not one so i said i look at some of the pictures and from there he helped me find that im a wolf and that i have always been a furry i just hid it but now i realise i should have never hid it because of how great being a furry is =D and how awsome and freindly the community is.

[ArcticSkyWolf]

When I watched this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yi6eelbXGG0 , well it was actually first aired on g4tv. When I watched it, I was like wow, all of that looked like fun. Then I searched up the whole thing on the Internet and learned all about it.

Prior to all of this, I seem to notice that I have a strong connection with dogs, like whenever I walk in the park, dogs always bark and jump on my, licking me and everything. I enjoyed it and I was always able to like talk to them. It was a lot of fun.

After watching the video, I found my way here where I first lurked onto the IRC and eventually found out that being a furry is a personal choice and before I knew it, I was a furry.

After watching it, I seem to have a even stronger connection with animals, not just dogs but now birds. Blue jays and other birds and even crows follow behind me. I felt that it was right to feed them some bread and stuff. I later found out that they always chill in my backyard. Now I have a bird feeder there 

And that's my story.

[Bags thirtysecond]

Hmm, I've always loved nature, and felt a stronger bond towards all the animals of this world besides humans. Humans just...didn't seem natural to me. I don't know why exactly. But eventually I ended up unconsciously aquiring a fursona. I looked into this sort of thing and found it wasn't uncommon. The rest is obvious.

Ok, so I know I'm not alone now  . Well, my story is similar to that; I could not explain my feelings any better than that, but there are a few more interesting experiences that lead me to pursue fur-fandom. (what? you think I wasnt going to write a lengthy explination )

So I have always felt a personal, deep connection to nature, my pets, and basically any animal that crosses my path (especially mammals because I can relate). My favorite activity has always been just running in the woods, especially when I'm having a rough day, and as a kid my dog would run along the trails with me, I felt like he was as close to me as a big brother would be. And ya, I felt as if that wasnt quite normal, So I just never told anyone of my feelings.

  I had not even known of fur-fandom, until my senior year in High school. One of my friends (who moved from Seattle) told me about them one day (he had run into a convention once), and I just thought that was kinda weird, and that I should avoid those people, because he had only told me that they were weird and they harassed him. I had no idea the term meant a fandom of anthros. I had always treid to find what type of animal fits my friends' personalities, and I guess I had developed fursonas for all of them, but I never really did anything about it. Then I met a girl at school who I became very close to, I saw her posters around school, with anthros giving safety tips, but i didnt think much of it. Then I saw her devientart gallery on her computer, and she had drawn characters for all of her friends, even me, and I thought it was pretty cool. I never really knew thats what furries did though, so I didnt ask her about it. That did peak my interest however. and I obsessed over her drawings, I was crushed when we had a falling out.
  Then me and a group of friends went to my friend's summer home two summers ago, and we decided to go bowling, so we did. And after a few minutes of bowling, a group of people in fur-suits came strolling in, and bowled in the lane right next to ours. I thought, "hmmm, thats strange", but my eyes lit up. The entire time my friends laughed and jeered at them, I played along. The fursuiters were hootin' and howlin' when they came in, but after a while they just bowled and talked with thier suites on the entire time. They were actually quite friendly, and we exchanged hellos a few times. The entire time I wanted to just go over and bowl and talk with them, to be one of them, but I didnt. I just played along with my friends. At this point all of my friends told me about furries, because I didnt really know, but they just thought they were freaks who had the same fetish. So they were creeped out, but my interest was further peaked. I kind-of looked into the dirtier side of furries, but I dropped it for a while, and thought I needed to get it out of my system.
  I was in denial for a while, until me and one of my friends saw a fursuiter walking around Providence in March. He just laughed and said she was probably a RISD student, then we walked in the other direction because he was creeped out. From then I actually did some research, and I found out about actual fur-fandom. I was hooked, I knew that was me, but I told no one, and remained in denial. I found this forum, and looked around it for a while. Something clicked, I decided this wasnt going away, and I joined this forum. the rest is history...

[Rappy]

I was in a website family thing with some friends and I inquired about their art and stuff like that. My friend told me he was a furry, explained it all, and asked me about it myself. After a couple of weeks of looking around at anthro art, and being coaxed everyday-I decided that there is no harm in becoming a furry!

[Ray Furr]

I lisned to music by lapfoxtrax and liked the art and followed the links to the furry fandom 

[Døvu]

i think I started to become a furry when I was 8 or 9. Me and my cousin would pretend that we could transform into animals and we would crawl and run around growling and howling at each other and get into silly situations. That was our favorite game to play for years until we grew up. So i guess that second personality I pretended to have as a kid stuck and grew on me. 

[Sawyer]

I've always had a big interest in shapeshifters, animals, and the like. So becoming a furry was a natural extension of that. I found out about the fandom through the internet, initially, but I didn't  identify with it for some time because I was afraid of the stigma. Then I decided, screw it, I'm a furry

[Kyaine]

When i was 15 my brother told me about it and i started researching it on the internet then i got into the fandom.

[vsnlollipop]

I always liked cartoons where people turned into animals, partially or completely. Not a long time ago I just searched for some random things and then i found this, seemed interesting  . then after reading I realised that this fits for me so i became a furry, no. I was a furry allready, I just didn't know it .

[Alicia-Korean-Soviet]

I became a furry when I was about 11. I had a serious addiction to the Spyro games, and wished I was a dragon. Thus, my first character named Laycira was born. It was fun, until some dork began making fun of my character. I was angered and so I discontinued Laycira. Finally, I decided on my current character who is a dragon/leopard/peacock mix. I added peacock and leopard DNA in honor of my best friends whose fursonas are a leopard and a peacock. Coincidentally, those are also my favorite real-life animals.

Well, that's m' story.

[mulchardude]

Neat story and amazing hybrid...definitely unique!

What was so wrong with Laycira?  I haven't played the Spyro games, so I dunno if it was referenced...but still, I doubt people had any reason to make fun.

I've made decisions like that and gone back later.  Letting people mess with you...well, messes with you. 

[Kaprika]

WHELP...i was a furry for a while and didnt even know it in the begginning


i started out with a NEKO girl actualy, her name was Catrina (hence my DA name) but i didnt know what a animal human hybrid was called then so i just called her a demon. (i was like...14 i think?)
and she was me for the longest time..but as years passed i discovered the online furry community and found that they were who i was identifying with all along, and i scrapped Catrina but for a long long time didnt have a true fursona. i only came up with Kaprika just....oh i dunno, id say 5 months...?

i came up with her about a few weeks before i joined the furry forums if THAT tells ya anything.
cause for the longest time i couldnt figure out what animal i identifyed myself to the most...so i finnaly settled on a hybrid!
wolf...show leopard.
combined, they are me!