Possible Real Life Explanation For Smarty Syndrome In Your Stories

[Thk]

If you’re looking for a quick way to boost realism in your story or explore a new means of explaining Smarty Syndrome/Hellgremlinism or how it spreads among a population, maybe a bad seed infecting a community be it Feral or Domestic, maybe create some tragic irony between breeder/shop myths and the reality or maybe some good Samaritan/Abuser activist influencing population behavior by manipulating infection rate one way or the other, new research on wolves indicates pack-forming, aggression and territoriality, and loner traits are influenced by bacterial infection (which affects many animals in different ways, including humans).

Per the article:

Toxoplasma gondii is a ubiquitous protozoan parasite that can infect any warm-blooded species. In lab studies, infection with T. gondii has been shown to increase dopamine and testosterone levels along with risk-taking behaviors in hosts including rodents, chimps, and hyenas. Oh, and humans.

They found that “the odds that a seropositive [infected] wolf becomes a pack leader is more than 46 times higher than a seronegative wolf becoming a pack leader.”

Wolves with antibodies against the parasite were significantly more likely to disperse (leave their packs and set out on their own) and to become pack leaders. Pursuing both of these courses of action constitutes aggressive and risky wolf behavior, and they represent the two biggest decisions in a wolf’s life.

An infected leader may increase the overall number of infected wolves, both because pack leaders have a reproductive advantage and because risk-taking leaders might be less hesitant to lead their packs into cougar territory, where they can pick up their own infections.

Plus, wolves are social creatures who learn from and emulate their leader’s behaviors. So T. gondii-infected, aggressive, risk-taking pack leaders can yield “a more assertive, risk-embracing pack culture even though only a few key individuals are actually infected.”

Of course, increased engagement in risky behaviors is dangerous, so some of these hyper-aggressive wolf leaders and the packs that copy them are more likely to get themselves killed. Regardless, the selfish genes dictating their behaviors and their fates aren’t even their own genes. Parasites are the puppeteers.

You could say there is an organism unique to infecting Fluffies, play with how various real diseases/parasites/infections affect them different, or just namedrop it to handwave any logical leaps in your story.

[Pushka]

I’d think it’s even worse in fluffies because unlike wolves, smarty fluffies don’t stray away from fucking their own kids.

[Watcher]

I kinda like the idea, no matter how well you raise them, they’ll still be an asshole in life

It’s just a part of nature, sometimes no matter how much you try to train, care, love for something, it could just be that they were that way before they even enter the world, psychology can’t explain, science probably can’t explain it, it just is

[Fuzztoy]

This raises the possibility of medicines to destroy the parasitic infection and curing smarty syndrome.

A vaccine could also be made, and I could see high-end breeders using it while mills wouldn’t bother.

[Thk]

Unfortunately its basically permanent, even in humans.

Source for the following, which is ironically called Cleveland Clinic.

Most people don’t have symptoms when they get infected. But as your immune system attacks the parasite, it creates cysts in your body. The parasite can live inactive (dormant) in these cysts and make you sick when it reactivates at a later time.

Toxoplasmosis is most dangerous in pregnancy and for those with weakened immune systems, like people living with [HIV] or [cancer].

Worldwide, it’s estimated that up to 1 in 3 people are infected with (T. gondii) , the parasite that causes toxoplasmosis. Most people who are infected don’t have any symptoms.

Because of the way the parasite hides in your body, you can have symptoms of toxoplasmosis when you’re initially infected or at a later time. When the parasite initially enters your body, some people get flu-like symptoms. But in most cases, your immune system can get rid of the initial infection without causing any symptoms.

While your immune cells are fighting it off, T. gondii makes small sacs (cysts) in your body. It can live in these cysts, inactive (dormant), for long periods of time. Research suggests that the cysts break open periodically and your body fights off the infection. Like the initial infection, this usually causes no symptoms.

You can accidentally ingest T. gondiiafter coming in contact with something that’s contaminated, such as: Cleaning a cat’s litter box. Gardening in soil where cats live. Drinking water that hasn’t been boiled or treated. Eating unwashed fruits or vegetables. Eating undercooked or improperly refrigerated meat.

Because of the cysts left behind by T. gondii , toxoplasmosis may never be fully cured. Medication can treat an active infection, but it doesn’t destroy the cysts.

So barring leaps in Fluffverse science there’d be no permanent cure, and if there was it would be applicable to basically all mammals and have implications beyond just Fluffies, like making zoo animalsor natural wildlife less aggressive and improving the outlook for AIDS patients.

That said, its reasonable to assume symptom-based treatments would work. Especially hormone therapies.

Its also easy to explain why it spreads through populations; feces. One could argue shitblasting foes and forcing analingus isn’t Hasbio Programming, but extreme susceptibility to the parasitic control making them want to expose their opponents (meaning weaker, and thus more susceptible) Fluffies.