To be perfectly honest, you're likely to get different definition of many terms, potentially more than one variant, from each and every otherkin, therian, or fictionkin you ask, and the language does change from year to year. The cornerstones haven't shifted much though. Otherkin is a person who identifies on some level as other than human. It is derived from an older term, elvenkind, that referred to people who identified as, well, elven. Kintype is the type of other you are. Therians are those that consider themselves animal on some level, usually something of earth though there's some that identify as decidedly otherwordly animals who prefer the term therian because their other is a feral or wild animal, not a sapient species. Theriotype is thus the species of animal the person identifies as. And the fictives or fictionkin consider themselves as beings from fiction, sometimes specific persons. Beyond this, terms tend to muddy. The way to figure out whether you are, or simply identify "with" something is to really take a long hard look at yourself and at the thing you think you might be. That means flaws and all. We tend to romanticize what we identify with because we don't identify with things just because the archetype appeals to us, but because it in some way represents an ideal to us, something we want to be. If we look at ourselves and our own flaws (which is truthfully a very difficult thing, we are not used to that level of honesty with ourselves at all and our minds will rebel when we try to face ourselves truthfully and honestly) and try to figure out what we're avoiding to see in ourselves, what we're trying Not to see, and compare that to what we're trying Not to see in the thing we think we might be, we can start to make progress. It's really easy to try on a new hat, a new identity, to avoid being ourselves, to avoid seeing ourselves as who we are, and we are Naturally biased towards ourselves in a way that is genuinely unavoidable. To some extent we can't see ourselves truthfully because we can't not be both the observer and the observed, but it's worth it to try. Because if you don't like what you see, you can choose to change it, to work on it, to keep an eye out for it so that you can stop doing it, stop being it. When we're looking at the difference between identifying as and identifying with, a lot of the self work starts with "does this benefit me?" It's not the whole of the work, but it's a start.

Okay. I do not want to make any suggestions, because I can not tell you anything of worth here. The only opinion I can offer isn't as an older otherkin with decades of experience within the greater kin community. The only opinion I can offer is more of a "nerd who reads about animals sometimes" opinion. Which means, if I say "sounds like some kind of bear?" it's got nothing to do with my experience as otherkin and everything to do with having some knowledge of bears because they sometimes show up around the country I live in and are kinda cool.

What that should tell you is that if you're looking for an animal that fits a description, try asking people who like animals.

Oh absolutely Not. There's no evidence of any kind that physical shapeshifting of any kind what so ever is possible at all.

Kin as a suffix refer to identifying as the word it suffixes. As in, a person that is deerkin identifies as a deer. Same with meerkatkin. HOWEVER! Therians are people who identify as animals, so it may be more accurate to refer to deer and meerkat as your theriotype. The type of animal you identify as. Many therians don't like to refer to themselves a otherkin and vice versa. YMMV.

Sorry for the late answer. It's difficult to give a Good answer, and in all these things your mileage may vary. Sometimes people try very hard to encourage loving your body, but this is frequently far beyond reach for a LOT of people. Otherkin that are trying to make sense of their existence, trans people who don't have access to appropriate healthcare, disabled people dealing with chronic pain, fatigue, and difficult limitations. (And before anyone gets angry, I'm speaking from experience on all these fronts. I am transgender, disabled, and otherkin.) The human body can feel like a torturous meat prison from time to time, and it's very difficult to enjoy it when it does that. But... if we enjoy anything at all... we can attempt to remind ourselves that the body is the interface, the equipment, the tool with which we can access that which we enjoy. Even when we wish we had a different body we don't know how the changed neurology would change our sense of taste and hearing so we might find our favorite foods too bitter and our favorite music too discordant. Everything we enjoy in our lives we are only able to enjoy because we live, now, in the bodies that we have. From our favorite bands to the feel of the sun warming our back. From the phone game we're playing with to the scent of freshly brewed coffee. From the physical sensation of getting into a clean bed with clean sheets after a shower to hearing a friend laugh at a silly joke you've made. Every good thing we feel and experience in this life is because we're here, in this life, in our bodies, right now... Everything... is only available to us through the bodies we have. This doesn't mean we have to love our bodies. We don't even really have to like our bodies.

But maybe we can negotiate a truce with our bodies. Sure, my body's entirely human, and yeah, it's awkward and unwieldy and a constant source of pain and fatigue and the damned thing has bits missing and doesn't "move right" but by all that is holy do I love to put a piece of high quality dark chocolate on my tongue and letting it melt as I sip a freshly made cup of coffee. When I'm having a particularly bad body day I sometimes just spend the day filling my time with whatever keeps me occupied, but whenever I start to feel a little better I help myself to a treat. A nap in the sun, a hot bath, a bite of my favorite food, the music that makes me wanna bounce and dance, a new game off on sale off one of the game providers, something like that. All of that is my truce with my body. I don't need it to be something it can not be, I just need it to keep existing so I can keep having nice things. This has given me, more than anything else, Time. And Time brings change, it's inevitable. Everything changes All the time. So all of that time has gotten me something amazing. I have my own adult autistic offspring. They're amazing, intelligent, incredibly talented, and quite possibly the best thing I've brought into this world. I have a husband and a boyfriend and I love them both so very much. I have a beautiful home full of plants and pets, full of Life. I have been able to do all the transition things I wanted. I have a pretty good life right now. Body's still frequently nothing short of a meat prison, but even then it's still livable and sometimes that's all we really need... but in order to get there, we just have to stick around for a while.

Yes, there are a lot of otherkin that have more than one type. Of those that believe they're otherkin because of reincarnation, many believe they've lived as several different things and still carry some of those lives with them, for example.