Theodor Geisel, AKA Dr. Seuss, got his inspiration for his book The Cat in the Hat from a schizophrenic friend who only spoke in rhyme and insisted on dressing up all of his pets. Ironically, the friend never owned a cat because he thought that they were agents of the Government bent on stealing his canned goods. Geisel left this part out of the book, although he did acknowledge that he based the goldfish's paranoia about things going wrong on his mentally-ill acquaitance.