I'm a little unclear on how the furry identity works. Is it like an LGBT+ thing where you just are this thing regardless of your feelings or desires, or does wanting to be a furry make you one? Like, I've fought against being trans much of my life, but now I see I pretty much always was. But I don't know if liking the puppygirl idea makes me a furry, or if that's something I have to have always been? (this is not a reaction to a recently popular puppygirl, I've meant to ask this for a while) I also may be terribly misunderstanding furries; that's a taboo subject where I live, so I don't know much.
I think, like being queer, there is no clear answer, and looking for one is kind of missing the point?
Like, does it matter whether someone is queer or gender non conforming from birth or from last Tuesday, to anyone who's not a massive piece of shit?
And trying to answer that definitively kills a bunch of nuance and creates lots of biphobia and is just generally awful.
Furs are pretty similar there. Are you this thing? Do you like to do this thing? Have you always wanted to try this thing? These can all have different answers, or the same, and it's fine.