Cat fussing at his chest... small sore

My 2 year old male cat Sterling was initially a stray that got his chest ripped open by a big tom cat at 6 months age. It healed but he has significant scarring, and in the past two months, he's begun fixating on that scar tissue, licking it to the point where he made a small sore. I took him to the vet in mid-July. She reccomended a t-shirt and anti-itch cream, which we tried. Within a day, the shirt was gone, but he had stopped licking and it began to heal.

Two days ago, I picked him up and the sore is back... it's scabby, but definitely there. The vet said the next step would be to buy an elizabethan collar from Petsmart, but I am worried that if I do that he 1) won't be able to groom anywhere, and 2) won't be able to behave normally... how will this affect him?

The cream helps, but I am afraid to put it on him if he is licking.... does anyone have any thoughts?

I've made sock shirts for kittens and young cats to keep them from picking at a sore that needed to heal. Socks work great because you can put the elastic over the stomach area and they can't get them off easily. I'm not sure if your kitty would be small enough to get something like that on, though. Maybe try a little shirt again but modify it? Take the arms off or anything around them and make the arm holes larger, feed some string or elastic through the bottom seam and tie it to see if that can keep it tighter to the body.

If he keeps licking it even after it heals to a point where it becomes a sore again, I don't think even a sock or shirt will help long term. If you are just trying to keep him away from it until it heals again, you could do what I did with Bijou a few weeks ago. He pulled the stitches out of his thigh 3 times where they removed a lump. I finally bought some cheap baby sleepers for him. I learned you need to put the front of them on his back side because he undid the snaps with his teeth when I had them on his belly. If you don't do up the crotch area and put his tail through, he can even go to the bathroom easily. Bijou didn't pee or poo in the sleepers at all. I had several pairs so he could stay clean.

That is a good thought about the baby sleepers... he had the t-shirt off within 24 hours of it going on.

I don't know why he is doing this, but I do not want it to get infected. I tried bitter apple and he just licks it all off... it seems to encourage him!

Here is the thread where I posted about Bijou's sleepers. There is a picture as well.

http://www.thecatsite.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=200191

Today we got an elizabethan collar (vets reccomendation). We put it on him after some trauma (he hid under the bed) and he is very angry. It was really sad because when we let him go with it the first time he tried to run through the banister like he always does and ended up bouncing off. He then spent an hour dragging it along all the walls and furniture in hopes of popping it off. He seems to be settling in with it now though... he ate wet food (we put Evie in a crate to eat hers so she would not steal his) and seems to be able to jump. I put out a low litter box just in case, though, as ours is a tall one that they jump into.

Now that he can't reach his chest to lick, I am wondering what I can do to help it heal. We were thinking of trying to trim or shave away the hair from his chest tomorrow afternoon. The vet said that putting some neosporin on it will help it heal, and will be safe so long as he can't lick it off. I hope it heals fast... I feel bad for him with his "satellite head" collar.