How to heal recurring neck scabs / FHV kitty

Any idea how to speed up the healing of a scab? 

My four year old cat, (half Abyssinian mix who has FHV), has had two neck lesions - one on each side of his neck - that we think were caused by a chicken allergy, suspected and diagnosed by his vet a couple of years ago, although the entire episode started when his sister bit him on the neck.  The vet said the bite was the trigger, but not the cause of the wound(s) since his sister also was diagnosed with the chicken allergy (scratching the base of her neck area raw, breaking skin and requiring steroids). 

We even suspected it could be the microchip since Mikey has very thin skin and the chip is in the area where one of wounds is.

A little background:

Twice, Mikey had to have steroids to curb the itching.   We also had a "bib" custom-made for him so that he couldn't scratch and lick the area so that it would heal.  Every time I would take the bib off to wash it, however, he would start licking the area - grooming the area he hadn't been able to get to, understandably.

I went through numerous diet changes (no kibble, mostly NV canned and Primal - seems he is sensitive to turkey as well, both Primal raw and NV canned).

Early last fall, he scratched his neck area so badly (I had taken off his bib to give him a break) that he ended up with a staph infection. We consulted with a second vet who actually suggested removing seven layers of his neck skin from left to right (and then pulling up and stitching the extra skin a cat has).

Btw, he does not have fleas, has tested negative for ringworm, does not have any parasites or skin disease.

We thought the surgery  would be horribly invasive and extreme, as well as traumatic to Mikey so instead we kept the bib on longer-term and I gradually switched him over to a mostly commercial raw diet (Primal rabbit and pork), and the remaining 25% of his diet canned (NV rabbit).

With the bib on and the new diet, his neck has improved greatly.  The fur on the left side of his neck (maybe the size of a quarter), mostly grew back. On the left side (lesion the size of a fingernail), the area scabbed very well several times. Yet every time I took the bib off to wash it and  thinking that he was "cured",  he would lick at it, scratch at it with his back claw and then renew a viscous cycle.

I know the obvious answer would be to just leave the bib / cape on until the scab goes away which I probably will do and have another bib made for him. (A neighbor of mine is a professional seamstress.)

What I have tried to speed up healing:

Apple cider vinegar, Primose oil (in the diet, not skin), extra virgin coconut oil (on the scab).

Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.  I don't want Mikey to have to wear this bib longer-term.  He was actually fine for a few days this past week with it off and then once again, the wound is now raw. I will post a picture at some point so as to give this better perspective.

Thanks ......

One final thing: Mikey also has a bit of OCD grooming: one day I timed him, he groomed for about 45 minutes. I know cats tend to groom not only to clean but to "de-stress" but he has a great life here, can't imagine what kind of stress he would have!

Has anyone every done a biopsy is these area to see if they might actually be something other than simple wounds that won't heal?  They sound like they might be something more, and if they are, then they might be able to be treated with something.  It almost sounds like Eosinophilic Granuloma to me, since it isn't healing after all this time.  But I'm just guessing.  Has your Vet every tried an injection of long acting corticosteroid?  No matter WHAT it is, I would think that would help, because if it's bothering him in the least, that corticosteroid should take away the feeling of it for awhile.  I know we had a dog years ago who had lick sores on the tops of both his front paws and he got those shots in both paws and he stopped licking them because basically he didn't feel that area anymore, I think. 

Indeed, they sounded like feed allergy, but not healing when you switched to raw doesn't sound like allergy now.  Except for the NV rabbit....is the NV LIMITED or regular? 

You could try putting soft claws on his back feet so he can't  scratch himself with his back claws   Have you ever tried Colloidal Silver?  Quite a few people here use it for external wounds.  Here is an extremely long thread on the use of it that may or may not interest you :  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240011/colloidal-silver-usage-for-cats-health-in-some-occasions

mrsgreenjeens said:

 
Has anyone every done a biopsy is these area to see if they might actually be something other than simple wounds that won't heal?  They sound like they might be something more, and if they are, then they might be able to be treated with something.  It almost sounds like Eosinophilic Granuloma to me, since it isn't healing after all this time.  But I'm just guessing.  Has your Vet every tried an injection of long acting corticosteroid?  No matter WHAT it is, I would think that would help, because if it's bothering him in the least, that corticosteroid should take away the feeling of it for awhile.  I know we had a dog years ago who had lick sores on the tops of both his front paws and he got those shots in both paws and he stopped licking them because basically he didn't feel that area anymore, I think. 

Indeed, they sounded like feed allergy, but not healing when you switched to raw doesn't sound like allergy now.  Except for the NV rabbit....is the NV LIMITED or regular? 

You could try putting soft claws on his back feet so he can't  scratch himself with his back claws   Have you ever tried Colloidal Silver?  Quite a few people here use it for external wounds.  Here is an extremely long thread on the use of it that may or may not interest you

:  http://www.thecatsite.com/t/240011/colloidal-silver-usage-for-cats-health-in-some-occasions

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for the reply mrsgreenjeans.

He hasn't had the area biopsied, actually. It's interesting, if you were to see it now you would say, "much ado about nothing" b/c it's not that the wounds don't heal - they do heal and scab, it's just that the scabbing, especially on one side, doesn't seem to go beyond the scab phase, e.g., new skin and hair regrowth in that area.

Mikey has had at least two, possibly three steroid shots and I really don't want to do any more than that. He has feline herpes, hence, a weaker immune system, and steroids, although offering some temporary relief, depress the immune system more. The second vet we've seen, even when his neck was very bad, didn't want to use steroids, only as a last result.

He's was eating 25% NV rabbit regular canned then we switched to LID rabbit canned.  I'm wondering if maybe it's the veggies, or as you mentioned, something underneath his skin that is bothering him. We did suspect the microchip for a while and considered having it removed (ASPCA automatically chipped the kitties when they were very young, we adopted them at 2.5 months). 

I will look at the link you sent re: colloidal silver.

Thanks again, hopefully we'll get this figured out.