A lot of furries themselves only create their fursonas after joining the fandom, but I'm wondering just how many people considered themselves a particular animal before joining the fandom?
Personally, I've had what is now my fursona for 9 years. I don't really know how or why, just that I started imagining myself as being a cartoon dog, and it felt completely right in a way I've never really been able to explain to myself. I felt happier thinking of myself this way, and over the years I become very attatched to this cartoon dog side of me, before I'd even had a clue what the words "anthro" and "furry" meant.
Even then, the idea of cartoon animals has always appealed to me. Even before the dog thing I'd imagined myself as numerous others, fantasised about living in a world occupied with cartoon animals rather than people. They've always spoken to me in a way that people never can, and I always found myself identifying with such characters better. Anything with a cartoon animal in it seems to catch my attention, whereas I pretty much couldn't care less about humans (both real and animated).
So, basically, it's been something that's been very important to me long before I knew what the fandom was. In fact I was quite suprised to stumble accross the fandom, as I'd never suspected such a thing existed and always thought I was alone in feeling the way I do...