It depends on your standard of ‘actualization’.

Think of how you would replace a lost limb, in the olden days: some basic mechanical structure like a hook, intended for granting a small degree more physical utility than a bare stump. If you were particularly wealthy, perhaps it was even a nice-looking hook. Fast forward a bit, and we have wooden replica arms and replica hands, fast forward a bit more, we have plastic and metal replica limbs with rudimentary pneumatic functions that can grip objects in fascimile of how a hand would behave… a ways beyond that is response to nervous stimuli and haptic feedback, and somewhere out over the horizon is our fantasy notion of bionics. If I were to compare the typical Fursuit to any of these steps I’ve embellished upon, I would suggest we are at the phase of replica hands and rudimentary pneumatic limbs.

But the beauty of this situation, is that our technology has already advanced well beyond what is used in most fursuits. Fursuits just happen to be popular to make in a particular way—there’s no reason you would have to stick to that approach, other than to seem relatively uniform, and to work with what resources you have at home—which I can understand the arts and crafts appeal of, for the sake of convention-going.

There is nothing particularly remarkable about the sort of functional and aesthetic changes some furries desire, that requires us to be anything other than modified human beings with animal aesthetics, and then to refine those function and aesthetics and their safety of implementation, to the degree of being stunningly lifelike and visually appealing. No actual interface with pre-existing species or their genetics is necessary, in order to replicate the aesthetics of anthros, because we can create those modifications ourselves using materials that are compatible with our existing makeup. Want to have camouflage patterns like a particular species of animal? There’s a way to do that without a speck of that animal’s DNA. Many ways. It’s just a matter of determining which one is both safe and cost-efficient enough for you to actually use.

The only real long-term limiter to any of that, in my opinion, is that the demand for such a cybernetic makeover is niche, making the drive for such a thing impractical at current moment. Moreover, given the amount of personalization that goes into fursonas and anthro characters in general, it’s the sort of thing that is a custom-procedure… some degree of standardization for such body modification may have to exist, first, to build off of. What that looks like is anyone’s guess, at this point, but the closest models I can think of live within the field of cosmetology.

I’m personally of the opinion that if you follow things like Neuralink and anti-aging technologies, that’s the root of your ‘actual anthropomorphic animals’, right there—the segue-way at which we go from being organic and disease-prone humans with a relatively short life-span, to being directly interfaced with our technologies, able to gradually and painlessly exchange one synthetic limb for another.

The role of genetic engineering in this, will simply be to design materials that are compatible with the human organism, not to try and replicate form and function, necessarily. At least, at first, that seems to be the most realistic approach—gradually improving the health of our human bodies and then phasing in an anthro-esque exoskeleton of bluetooth tech—gradually streamlining that tech over time and minimizing its invasiveness, to basically be synthetic humans who look reminiscent to Earth animals, gradually sacrificing our old birth flesh to synthetic furry exoskeleton. Alternatively, you could just stick with your human body, and plug into a suit that is compatible with your nervous system, or perhaps remotely control an animal-esque drone body, or some other similar alternative that satisfied you. VR is of course an avenue already readily available to us, if VR becoming closer to ‘actual’ reality is something you’re willing to entertain, as is oft the attitude with the Games Industry.

Basically, the fursuit has to evolve in parallel with cybernetic technologies, and to a degree, with human anti-aging and health advancements, and all the ethical discussions that go with those things already exist—it’ll be something furries do for themselves, as those technologies and more becomes available to them. What implications that will have for society, that there are people out there who will pursue such an appearance, is anyone’s guess, but I suspect that ‘furries’ will not be walking alone into such a brave new world.