You're right. Well said.No.
It only needs to be quarantined for 10 days to insure GG did not get exposed. This won't tell you whether the cat has rabies, but it will guarantee that it did not transmit rabies to GG, since the disease does not become contagious until within 10 days of the development of observable neurologic symptoms (really more like 5 days, but 10 is used to be sure).
So, if the cat is quarantined and doesn't show symptoms until the 11th day - cat has rabies, but GG was not exposed and does not require treatment.
The 10 day quarantine period doesn't tell us whether the animal has rabies, only whether it could have transmitted it. The other option is to immediately euthanize it and have it tested for rabies (brain tissue is required).
Now, to complicate things, if you have say, an unvaccinated pet that gets bitten by a rabid animal (or a random wild animal who then disappears and you have no idea if it's rabid), THEN you have to quarantine that animal for 6 months (not weeks) to be sure that pet did not get infected.
If you have a currently vaccinated pet that gets bitten by a rabid animal, the recommendation is usually to give an immediate booster, and carry on as usual. The vaccines are that effective, as long as they're current at the time of exposure.
Bottom line, if GG knows the whereabouts of the cat that bit him, and it passes a normal neuro exam 10 days after the bite, he's free and clear. If he doesn't know where the cat is, or it's symptomatic status, then technically he should seek post-exposure treatment. You can't just wait to see what happens, because once symptoms develop, rabies is almost 100% fatal and untreatable.
Final point is that I believe GG lives in the metro LA area, where I would *guess* that rabies is rare (?), vs rural AL where rabies is endemic.
Thanks for correcting me and filling in the details I left out, especially about having the cat tested.
Cat bites are nothing to fool around with, even if rabies isnt a factor.