Hoping you can help a terrified individual...

[xFenrir]

Over a month ago I was out walking my roommate's dog in my apartment complex, it was late at night and as we passed a group of bushes the dog stopped to sniff, this cat jumped out and attacked him. Without thinking, I kicked it away but I was wearing sandals and came back bleeding on my foot. I went inside, rubbed the wounds with hand sanitizer, then washed out the wounds with soap and water for a few minutes, then rubbed them with sanitizer again and put antiseptic lotion on them. I became terrified of getting rabies. We went back to the attack spot the next day and the cat was there with two young kittens, which were hiding in the bushes and were most likely the reason for the attack.
The neighbors in the building say they have been watching over her for over 2 years since their neighbor left her there and she's never acted ill or rabid. But I am terrified. I went to the hospital and they said the rabies vaccines were expensive (the number they quoted was too much for me to afford) but they gave me a tetanus shot. I saw the cat every day for weeks, and I just saw her again the other day, she doesn't act sick at all. But I have freaked myself out by Googling rabies and the symptoms (I have a relatively uncomfortable sore throat and I am having an anxiety attack at the moment because I read that that is one of the symptoms) and I have been scared that the cat I have been seeing isn't the one that jumped out at us that night. Logic would dictate that it's the same one because her kittens were maybe a month old so she wouldn't have let another cat near them so it would almost certainly have to be the same cat. And since the people have been taking care of her for 2+ years if she had rabies she would have died. And her kittens would have been born with rabies and died as well. Plus the wounds aren't angled right for her to have bitten me, but I'm still terrified. I have awful, awful anxiety and I'm a really bad hypochondriac as well, I'm absolutely terrified that I have rabies and I'm going to die. I've had a few headaches since then and I have had this sore throat since yesterday. I would think that the first sign would be a fever though, but my fear is over-riding any time I try and tell myself something comforting. Please someone help me.

[Royal Hijinx]

It is very unlikely you were bitten, and you cannot get rabies from the scratch.

Web MD is the devil.

There are literally hundreds of reasons for a sore throat. If anything, you are likely coming down with something related to your anxiety wrecking your immune system.

The tetanus shot was a good idea since the wound was likely dirty (despite your cleaning).

You are most likely fine and just need to relax.

How does the wound look? I would be most concerned with local infection. That is the prevailing reason for people to come to the office or ER after a cat scratch.

You need to get your 1.0 boyfriend on doing his job and making you feel better and calm

[The Serpent Merchant]

as you said that cat and her kittens would have been dead by now. Think of how many outdoor cats there are without rabies it really isn't all that common anymore.

By now you would be experiencing serious symptoms. And would know for sure that you had it.

[Jabberwocky Dragons]

Are you 100% positive it is the same cat? It sounds extremely unlikely that the cat had rabies but also keep in mind that rabies is virtually 100% fatal. If you have even the slightest suspicion.... it would be worth protecting yourself. I've only heard of a single case of a person surviving and as far as I know she never woke up from her coma.

[Raptor]

You're fine. With this being a month ago, you would have already exhibited symptoms. You've had absolutely no symptoms of rabies. Headache and sore throat are the symptoms off pretty much everything out there, to be honest.

[Jazi]

I had a similar rabies scare when I was bitten by a feral mama and her kittens trying to move them off the side of the highway and into a carrier where they wouldn't be squished.

First, take a deep breath.

If your dog had a rabies shot and the wounds are not deep enough to see a vet visit, your dog should be fine (though watch to make sure it doesn't start acting off).

As for you, you did the right thing by washing the wound. The biggest danger with cat scratches is Cat Scratch Fever, as rabies is unlikely (possible, but less than 98% chance) to transfer via a scratch and Feline Distemper is much different than Canine Distemper in that it cannot be transmitted to humans. Watch the wound, if it gets nasty put some antibiotic cream on it and if it doesn't get better, go back to the doctor.

If you freak yourself out and think you have rabies, your brain will begin imagining rabies symptoms. Instead of worrying about it, just remember. If the doctors had thought it was very likely that you had rabies, they would have strongly suggested that you get the shot and not just mentioned the price.

[xFenrir]

Don't get me wrong, he's tried everything he could to calm me down, but my anxiety overrides everything people say to help me. He doesn't know what to do to help me. I'm looking into a therapist about it because after 8 years of fighting an uphill battle with it, it's starting to win and breaking me down (probably why I'm so anxious over this rabies topic).
The wounds were red for a 1-3 days but then they turned into any other old wound. I'm assuming since it was my foot the redness was just because of it being punctured. It didn't hurt unless I touched it, and after a week it didn't even hurt then. To give you a better picture, here's my foot (lol) with the sandal I was wearing at the time:

The lines on the side were definitely scratches, it's the ones on my toes that bother me. And the one on my ring toe is on the side of it actually. I kicked her near her shoulder and she was facing right (from my view), so it doesn't make sense that it would be a bite, but I know cats are flexible creatures and I worried over the fact that somehow the cat turned and bit me somehow (see how bad I am at calming myself??) My other reasoning was that she would've had to put a generous amount of my foot in her mouth within the pan of 2-3 seconds to bite me that way, but (like I said) anxiety is telling me that maybe somehow she did it anyway.

The part that's terrifying me the most is the thought that I might have been observing the wrong cat this entire time. (Which again, with young kittens and her being there every time I went there for a month it seems unlikely another cat was around or that it could've been any other cat.)

[Royal Hijinx]

If the wounds healed fine and all you have is a sore throat a month later, I would think you are fine. With that said, you should see your Dr with any concerns (being a medical person, I have to say that - CYA).

[xFenrir]

As for the doctor, after I mentioned that I might not be 100% sure I found the cat that attacked me he said that if that was the case I should get the shots. But then again, he was very doctor-ish and let me leave saying, "If you want to get the shots, you have like a month to get them" (this was after I started sobbing and hyperventilating because I knew I couldn't afford the price he said). If he was seriously worried he would've kept strongly recommending I get the shots instead of letting me leave so casually, right?

[M&H]

Breathe!

Logically you know you do not have rabies. You know that you are prone to hypochondria and reading things online will cause you to "see" the symptoms in yourself. As someone else has pointed out headache and sore throat are the systems to everything including allergies (starting to get warmer near you?)

The BEST thing you can do for yourself is to sit down with a pen and paper and write down all the reasons you do NOT have rabies. People have helped you with a few reasons.

1. You went to the doctor and they had no concerns.
2. Chances of catching rabies from a cat scratch are very slim.
3. It happened a month ago without any advance symptoms

etc......

Write the whole list as many as you can think of. Every time you feel yourself starting to panic, try going into a room where it is quiet. Start reading the list from the start and slowly and calmly breathe while reading each point. If you finish and still do not feel better start from the top and read them out loud. Retraining yourself how to think about the situation will help you have fewer attacks and hopefully you won't have the panic attacks anymore.

Good luck, hope that helps.