A few furs are asking on different forums how one became a furry. I think I never posted on any forum my detail history so here it goes. 

Unlike some furs, I never had an early interest in anthropomorphic animals. To me something like Disney’s Robin Hood was a neat cartoon, I like Bugs Bunny and the whole Lonny tunes crowd better.

I was a big fan of the Animaniacs. I hug around the alt.tv.animaniacs during my usenet days and yes, it was like this

One day a debate was start asking if the Animaniacs were furry. Soon another forum some hater tried to tell us furries were a fetish where people have furry sex. What went though my mind was sex with hairy people. Somebody tried to correct me, say furry was animal sex. As somebody who was sympathetic to the religious right, I had a strong skepticism to think I heard in the news and on the net. I did my own research and became fascinated with the fandom due to a book The Future and it Enemies where at author Virginia Postrel explored her idea of Dynamism; the Idea society should be free to innovate. Furry fandom became an example of Dynamism in action; the freedom to create ones own subculture. Soon I forgot about furry fandom.

2004:

An episode of CSI Fur and Loathing lead me to the second encounter with the furry fandom. Unlike some I did not recoil in horror from the over the top portrayal of Furries as a kinky sexual fetish. I could not believe what I saw in the episode as a true portrayal of furry fandom but another example, liberals in Hollywood distorting a culture or group ,be it fundamentalist Christian, Furry or Conservative, for their own gain. I stated lurking the Fur Nation boards when the boards did not shut down and threatened to go away. The furry videos on YouTube had shown me a fandom that was having too much fun. I want to be a furry but there was one problem, I was a very legalist Baptist and worried what the church would think. The change happen in 2006 as I left the Baptist church and returned to my Anglican roots over doctrinal issues with revivalism, and the church growth movement. This also freed me from my self-imposed legalism. Not surprising the soon after I presented my letter of resignation to the church, I created an account on Furtopia and declared myself a furry.

Now about hello Kitty

My reason is I could not connect to much furry art and literature as an greymuzzle, too much twenty something rave stuff. One day I was looking at a Hello Kitty Plush left over from a successful liquidation to Ebay run, and thought why not Sanrio characters are 100% anthropomorphic and too cute. I bought my first Hello Kitty plushie and the rest is history. I feel I would not became a Hello Kitty fan* until I was a furry and comfortable having plushies around as an adult.