confined cat licking his fur away

Recently rescued aged cat has been confined for the past three weeks pending his release into the yard. He is being treated for worms. In the last few days he has begun to lick the fur off of a large area on both sides of his rib area. When he first started on one side, we applied ringworm medication to the area, but that resulted in him starting in on the other side. I am suspecting an obsessive/compulsive behavior rather than a genuine skin problem. Any ideas?

I can agree with the behavioral part. Many stressed cats overgroom. Perhaps try a Feliway diffuser? You can search the forums for "Feliway" or google it. It is a pheromone that calms them.

aww bless him - I agree its a sign of stress - I hope you can find something to sooth him or maybe let him go into a larger pen before he goes to the yard.

This is probably a stress thing. I adopted my Cheshire Cat when he was about a year old, and he was severely neurotic, to the point that the animal shelter tried to discourage me from adopting him. He started doing licking hair off his legs when I was away from home during the day. Eventually I got him a kitten (yes, I got a cat for my cat) and it stopped. But it was definitely a mental thing, not a physical thing. So your cat is probably experiencing a lot of stress like Cheshire Cat, and is resorting to these compulsive behaviors.