Is it normal to be a furry, but not as a fetish?

I came up with my furry character several years ago as a Halloween costume and continued adding to it afterwards. My character is a cyborg cat. I'm an entertainer and started dressing as my character for my band and other events like dj gigs.

I had never heard of furries and was unaware it was a fetish until people started pointing it out to me. I decided to go to a furry convention to see what it was all about and it was quite a strange experience although it was fun talking to the other furries. They seemed to have a variety of reasons for what they did, but fetishism was a common theme, which I actually thought seemed strange.

While I have no sexual interest in it I don't care if other people do or what people may think and continue to dress this way. It seems 9/10 people love my character while a smaller population avoid me, but it doesn't matter because I like to make people laugh and have a good time. I am regularly requested to come to parties and other events dressed like a cat and I have fun doing it so that's all that matters to me.