Serious Cat Anxiety?

I have had my two cats (Gordric and Atreyu) for a couple years now, they are brothers out of the same litter, Godric is white and grey, Atreyu is jet Black.  They have always seemed to get along for the most part except for the occasional play fighting and dominance of the food or litter box... Nothing too serious.  Once Godric was around a year old I started to notice that he was getting little red rash in between his eye and ear where the fur is usually pretty thin, his ears would go red and he would heat up a bit, this also was followed by occasional vomiting and lethargy but for the most part he seemed just fine and after a little bit it would go away again and I would rarely see it.  After I saw that rash though it seemed like Godric started to throw up more frequently, he seems to engorge himself on food like its some sort of competition with Atreyu except for that Atreyu doesn't really give a **** about anything going on, hes the most chill cat ever and nothing seems to get to him... Not to mention the fact that Atreyu has never even coughed up a hairball and has never even been slightly ill, hard to imagine they are brothers sometimes.  So while Godric is engorging himself he continues to throw up and then returns to his bow yet again to eat more, whenever I make food he will try relentlessly to break into my cabinet where the trash is and reaches into my dishwasher disposal to pull out any real food he can get his paws on.  I had to block off all access to these places obviously.

So it's been a year of this off and on throwing up and I notice one day that Godric has a small cut above his eye, I figured it was the cats playing (they aren't de-clawed) but over the next week I started to catch Atreyu licking it, a lot!  He was starting to remove fur even and it looked like he possibly causes another rash because Godric suddenly had all these puss ridden scabs and open sores in between his right eye and ear.  Just that spot though... no where else.  Atreyu continues to lick them constantly and I am not there all day so I can't stop it and I cannot separate them because my downtown loft has 3/4 walls which they can reach easily so there's no place to keep them apart short of locking one away in a bathroom... The reason I say lock in is because Atreyu can easily open just about any door.  I decide it's time to visit a vet...

The vet I go to literally has no idea what to make of the scabs, I tell him the situation and it becomes pretty clear to us that the cats need to separate at least while Godric heals.  He prescribes me and ointment and antibiotic liquid to give to Godric and I take Atreyu over to my parents... which by the way he hated being there for the most part, he loves being here where he grew up.

Here's the interesting thing, over the next week and a half I have Godric at home alone, he immediately seems to have a better demeanor and personality once Atreyu is gone, he's calmer, cuddles more, sits with me wherever I am, is never off by himself, he DID NOT throw up even once, he also did not attempt to eat any of my food and wasn't breaking into cabinets... and his wound healed very quickly.  He ate at a normal pace and didn't over indulge, overall he seemed like a totally different cat, a confident one with no worries.  This by the way was incredibly hard to witness considering Atreyu is more or less depressed over at my parents where they are barely ever home.

So after Godric has healed enough and seems to be doing so much better I decide I want to bring Atreyu back.  The moment i pull Atreyu out of the carrier Godric seems to tense up and immediately become anxious.  I try to pick him up to reassure him and he hisses at me... He has never done this ever.  Atreyu seems to fall back into the loft life like nothing has changed and he seems to even be more cuddly and sweet, he attempts to lick on Godric's bald spot again and I try to stay on him about not licking.  Godric starts to compete again with food and has started to vomit again frequently, he is sitting away from me more and seems upset about Atreyu being back home.  They also seem to compete as to who can go to the bathroom last, I've noticed an increase in stool over the past week... Now when everything is calmed down they lay with each other and play together and seem to get along for the most part, it's really very puzzling...  After a few days of this I notice one morning that Atreyu has apparently licked and started another small scab on Godric's head in the same area.  This was extremely upsetting to me and I was furious that I had no idea what to do.  Thank goodness the follow up vet appointment is in a couple days so hopefully I will get some answers then.

The Vet had the exact same diagnosis I had, he couldn't attribute this behavior to anything but anxiety at some level. Very frustrating... he said to watch them and just see what happens and that a separation of the two might be the only solution if this keeps up.  I left fairly devastated and decided to pop on this forum and attempt to find some better advice or opinions from people who have possibly been through the same stuff.  Please help me out! It's really difficult for me to think about separating these two brothers after this long together so I am willing to try anything.  Thanks!

-Blake

It could be anxiety or it could be food intolerance.  Have you tried him on a limited ingredient food?