What I’m going to say its based on my HC which diverts a little from “the standard” in that for example it wasn’t peta that got fluffies out but an industrial accident, here it goes
how a fluffy could be so weak and yet be fragile enough that they could injure one another.
Its by design, you can thank hasbio’s lawyers for this. Since fluffies are a synthetic lifeform not modified but made from scratch then hasbio would be legally liable for any harm fluffies create, and for a biotoy aimed to kids you can imagine the legal risks involved. So the geneticists made fluffies particularly weak because the boys upstairs would rather see fluffies break easily rather than one harming a kid and getting a lawsuit in the millions. In turn this “feature” also meant that hasbio got to sell more fluffies as replacements and fluffy “repair” services. Of course hasbio going bust after the accident at installation 04 put an end to this side business.
Fluffies are often depicted as starving even when they have a large amount of body fat
Never seen that, starved fluffies are always thin with ribs showing even through their thick (albeit useless) coats. In fact they don’t have much in terms of fat reserves for the simple reason that hasbio considered that a $10,000 biotoy would never ever lack food. Same reason why their ‘hoofs’ are so fragile: they were designed to be harmless, not to be able to walk miles in roads and dirt, after all fluffies were supposed to live indoor with their own rooms remember?
This problem could be compounded by their maladapted digestive system
Their digestive system is compromised by design, their intestinal tract was shortened so they could keep within the size limitations imposed by the marketing dept. Of course marketers dont know or care about biology, one of the many bad decisions that led to fluffies being like this.
yet they seem to be able to survive almost indefinitely in this manner. This indicates that there are still significant amounts of nutrients left in the waste
Can survive? sure, indefinitely? not quite, there are consequences. Some use fluffies as living bioreactors for methane production which is another unintended “feature”. These methane fluffies are force-feed liquefied waste to make gas. Of course they last but a fraction of their baseline lifespan, and fluffies being feed nothing but the waste of other fluffies have short lives too.
chronic malnutrition
Properly formulated fluffy feed is what makes the difference between a true fluffy and the average crappy looking feral or stray to the point that they look like different breeds. This is because hasbio cut corners so they had to compensate that with special feed and living arrangements (safe rooms, etc). Fluffies were never designed to forage for food let alone eat anything besides their specially kind of food. Not that it will kill them but the consequences of non-standard feed and care gives you the kind of subpar fluffy you see at the bargain bin or walking alone in the streets or wandering a forest.
I find this to be a more realistic scenario than fluffies having massive genetic flaws
Is not flaws but compromises, hasbio just couldn’t get fluffies to be living-mlp figurines, they had to resort to workarounds and cut corners. In my alternate HC were there was no industrial accident and hasbio retained full control fluffies were improved and many of these issues solved, tho other added for the sake of profit like making fluffies that can only be feed official hasbio food or else they die.