I've lived in the south my whole life, and a farm until last year. The amount of cats we had that were completely outdoor is in the the high double digits. I have never even seen a case of a rabid animal loving in the sticks, and especially not cats. The worst I was told to be worried about was Cat Scratch Fever or some kind of Infection. Every farm had a litter of cats and they were never vaccinated at all. Now of course our actual house cats, the ones we considered family were the ones who got medical treatment, because it would be impossible to keep up with so many cats at once, and we had tomcat that roamed the area.

Still not one rabies case and everyone and my family has been bitten, scratched, and clawed by a cat more than a few times. I understand the dangers of rabies, but it's a far cry from how common reddit seems to make it out to be