Thank you, Worry Raptor. It's likely the kitty just wandered off and will show back up, or if not the chances are greater that she fell victim to another animal vs. being sick, especially as she was effectively fine when I last saw her. I didn't end up calling because my mom said she was going to ask the health department (which made me feel a lot better) but then she messaged me and said my dad didn't think that was necessary. So I'm not sure, I guess I'll decide tomorrow.

I am trying to fight back with logic. The amount of people that become ill with rabies in the US is very, very, very low as-is. It's also incredibly unlikely that the kitten had it since she was very young and also appeared healthy. I also did look on our state's health department website and, while their recommendation is to do the PEP shots if you aren't able to monitor the animal for 10 days, they do say that it's fine to wait until that 10 day mark (even if you can't find the animal, in which case you can spend the 10 days trying to locate them). They also have a table on their site and of the 200-odd cats that have been tested for rabies in the state in 2023, none have been positive. They have had some years where there were some positives, but overwhelmingly most animals tested come up negative, especially domestic animals.

It's just the what if, that I guess is part of health anxiety, that gets me. I know the odds are extremely low and I can tell myself that, but then I ask myself "even at very low risk, is this something you want to risk?". So I'm not sure. I'll see what tomorrow brings.

Thank you for your posts, and for reading my ramblings. Sometimes it helps to just get it out.