Scabbing on Cat's Skin, Doesn't Heal

Hello, all! My eleven-year-old Siamese has some odd scabs on his body, one at the base of his tail and one on his left side. He licks the base of his tail a lot, and often nibbles at the area. I assumed it was possibly some sort of compulsion, a result of being lonely during the day, perhaps. He once gnawed on it enough to make it bleed. Despite all this the spot hasn't lost hair.

I took him to the vet, who shrugged it off, saying that it was just a scab that needed to heel, and that he looked healthy otherwise. He suggested using some bitter spray on the spot. Unfortunately, it didn't affect Christopher at all--he just carried on licking and nibbling at it. I do my best to stop him when I catch him at it, but this scab has been sitting for months now.

The other day I discovered he had one on his side too. Now, I'm not sure what the cause is it what to do to stop him. He now has company during the day (my family is visiting and I believe he enjoys having them around), and he seems happy. He is eating, is a healthy weight, uses the litter box. He just has a weird habit that I can't break. If anyone has suggestions on how to get his scabs healing faster, that'd be a great help! Anyone experienced something like this with their cat?

A picture of Christoper and the side scab below.

Several years ago, my cat Scooter had a couple of hot spots that he would not leave alone. The vet gave me some salve that was flavored with something unpleasant to help him leave the spots alone. That didn't really work. I tried putting an infant t-shirt on him. Even though it said "Tiger" he sure didn't appreciate it and somehow he got it off.  Eventually I had to give him some anti-anxiety medication until the spots healed. He never did it again.

I never figured out what caused it in the first place but I imagine that once something bothers a part of their skin, they are going to lick it and because of their rough tongues, it's going to make the situation worse, which leads to more licking.

 

Yes, probably the only way for them to go away is to stop him from licking them.  That's pretty difficult without having him wear a collar of shame, and not sure you want to put him thru that, because that in itself is terribly stressful for a cat.  You might try putting coconut oil or Colloidal Silver on it just to help it heal, but that probably would only work when it's not already in the scabbed stage.