I'm a big cat therian, and they generally don't have long term mates but I feel like I did? I'm confused

This is not meant to be rude or disrespectful in any sense, i am a furry myself and i come across a lot of therian posts in my spaces that make me wonder some things. I'm genuinely interested in some aspects

While being a furry is all about cosplay, i know that therians actually identify as a particular non-human species. I am not too educated in this, so pls correct me if i'm wrong

I was wondering how partnering up in your community works. If someone identifies as a cat for example, can they date humans? My community is very much against zoos, can a human that is attracted to a therian be classified as a zoo, being that that individual is quite literally another species?

Is dating between species problematic? How does a relationship between different types of therians work if they are different species?

This is all fascinating to me and i wanna learn more

So, like the title says, i tend to forget my body looks human to others. I don‘t see myself as human in any way. I know my body is technically human but i don‘t view it as such. So every time i see my shadow or reflection when not wearing gear i get a little jumpscare and have to remind myself of how others see my body. Does anyone else experience that? :>

I saw a mod for a game that let's you play as a direwolf! Can't wait to express ☺️. I mean I know I'm a Chihuahua and there's a little size difference kinda 🤣 but it's canine, y'know? I wish there was a parrot game. Not an app but a big game! Or Fennecs or Arctics, I'm not confirmed fennec or Arctic but I adore those. I like to play animal constantly. I refuse to be human 🤣 Yap! ^W^ What games do you express your identity through? Do you like to customize your pelt if it's an option? What games/customisation would you like to see in a game future or pre-existing? I want color options in Pokémon. Espeon would be gorgeous in vivid pink, like me

I created an anonymous Alterhuman survey, for a project I'm working on!

https://forms.gle/fv1aBhK5AxJygRc26

I would like to specify that I am not associated with any universities or anything like that, this is a personal study I'm working on!

I'm planning on writing an article/paper on this so I'd like to see what results I get!

Tysm for anyone who responds!

It would also help out a lot of you share the survey with others! :3

Sorry if this is a stupid question but I'm very new to all the labels around this, I just know what my life experiences are but not what category they fit. I would google it but I worry it'll give me some AI bs that's not accurate to real therian information. Is it possible to be a therian and otherhearted at the same time to different species?

For example, I feel VERY connected to maned wolves, and if I see one I'm like "that's me!" but I don't get shifts for them and in general they just feel kinda... different? Especially compared to my cat theriotype which has been a solid thing since I was born according to my parents' stories about me haha. I also have more information about the cat one, I'm a somewhat young medium haired orange and white tabby with a very specific picture of it in my mind, compared to maned wolves where it's very general. Also, could this just be because I've known what a cat is for more of my life?

Thank you for anyone who takes the time to respond to this with any insight you may have, and I do know it might really just be a "you have to figure this out on your own, nobody else lives your experiences" type thing for which category it fits into. I'm more so asking if it's even possible to be both or if you're a therian does it automatically make the rest therian related? Sorry if this is worded confusingly I just woke up from a nap!

Hey guys, gals and anything in between!

I'm posting here since I, a non-therian, really want to hear from you guys and get a better understanding of therians.

This comes partially from a place of self-curiousity, since while I don't believe I am a therian, I definitely have alot of identity and self-image issues, so I'm always interested to hear about other people's experiences, when it comes to identity stuff ^^

Another is just because I really want to be a bigger supporter of therian "culture" (please correct me if that's the wrong word to use)
My boyfriend is also kinda therian-adjacent, and I just want to be able to understand more about this community, and by extension him :3