Our cat has developed hot spots and won't stop licking

Hi Everyone,

Our cat Homer, a american shorthair, started developing hotspots a month or so ago. They are on the inside of his legs, the worst are on the inside of his thighs on his back legs. We have tried putting cream on them but he just licks it off, tried to put bandages but those last about 30 seconds, we've tried switching him to a poultry and grain free food but that hasn't seem to have worked either. It doesn't appear to be fleas and there hasn't been any changes to our home or anything like that.

We're not sure what to do, pretty close to putting him in a cone but those things look like torture. The pet store here keeps suggesting colloidal silver but from what I've read about it the stuff is just snake oil and I'm not keep about giving it to him.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Are you positive it's not fleas? This has been a banner year for them.

Have you brought him to the vet and had him checked for ringworm?

Hi misterwhiskers, thank you for the reply, fairly certain it's not fleas, cant find any on him or anything. No vet, they're way too expensive and we're not rich, is there any way we can test on our own?

Also, he's an indoor cat and we don't have any other animals enter the house so ringworm seems unlikely.