It is only conjecture, but to be honest, none of this makes sense. I'm not exactly used to parading about with ears and tail.

[Well....not this long a tail. It feels odd. And in general, he's not used to being in any alternate form with such severe initial pain and no explanation.]

But while we're on the subject, have you asked any of those "others" exactly what happened to them, and the period of time it took for them to start experiencing any ill effects? Maybe it's something we contract from our...journey here.