> Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that cat exposure is associated with an increased risk of broadly defined schizophrenia-related disorders
Cats in particular are correlated with getting toxoplasmosis. About other pets - IME, people who have been disappointed by humans / feel like they don't really fit into human society like pets as an alternative emotional support. I don't really understand it, but that's the observation.
But there have always been crank forums online. Before that, there were cranks discovering and creating subcultures, selling/sending books and pamphlets to each other.
Yes
https://academic.oup.com/schizophreniabulletin/article/50/3/...
> Our findings provide support for the hypothesis that cat exposure is associated with an increased risk of broadly defined schizophrenia-related disorders
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00223...
> Our findings suggest childhood cat ownership has conditional associations with psychotic experiences in adulthood.
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal...
> Exposure to household pets during infancy and childhood may be associated with altered rates of development of psychiatric disorders in later life.