My 9 month old kitten recently started licking the hair off of his front left leg. When I first noticed it, I took him to the vet to see if they could figure out what was wrong. The vet looked at the leg, and decided that it was a superficial infection. She was not sure what caused it, but decided to give him a shot of antibiotics and a steroid shot. One week after that appointment, he began to lick more, and I noticed little red raw spots forming. So I took him back to the vet, and they did a skin scraping and a fecal sample. She said the last steroid shot was short lasting, and she decided to give him another longer lasting shot. I got a call that the skin scraping and fecal samples came back clean. No parasites or anything else detectable.
All was well for about a month, but he just recently started licking again! The hair is already completely off, and I'm worried it is going to get raw again. I have heard bad things about overusing steroid shots, so I don't want to do that again.
Any ideas what else could be causing him to lick the same spot raw like this? He is very needy, but I give him a lot of attention whenever I am home. I also have his littermate (and they are the best of friends), so it can't be because he wants a buddy. Could he just be an anxious cat, and if so, how can I stop him from licking? The E-collar did not work well when he had to have it after getting neutered, so I would prefer something else. He has had the same food and litter, since I brought him home at 3 months old, so I would be surprised if he was just now reacting to that.