Been to 3 vets and no answer

my kitty (toad) 3 year old maine coon mix(neutered), has had problems with his eyes,his mouth, and rectal area for about a year. He licks and cleans A LOT. to the point that he bleeds from his eye/forehead and i need to use a cone. It seems self inflicting because he is so itchy. His bum, when I brought him to the vet last was looking very raw and sore, his outer lips were also raw, and his left eye was looking the same, raw and sore. I was given Atopica which seemed to help a bit but it was a 3 person job to give the medicine everyday for the duration. Any advice? Could it be allergies or a chronic condition? It never fully went away after the 1st treatment of  Atopica, but it did seem to help. I am lost.  All of the vets I went to told me it would cost 600+ dollars to figure out what's wrong with him. He does act normal (playing,eating, drinking.cuddling) he just itches so bad he keeps opening himself. I did stop the atopica because of how difficult it was to give it to him. Any suggestions would be amazing

Hello - allergies are definitely a chronic problem - 'chronic' means 'ongoing' and allergies are definitely like that.  (Other 'chronic' conditions include arthritis, diabetes etc).   Coping with allergies is usually two-fold, 1) treating the underlying allergy (hence the Atopica - it sounds as this would be well worth carrying on.  There are many different drugs in this sort of line) and 2) coping with any local infections / damage caused by a flare-up, ie scratching and biting.   Frustratingly, the number of things a pet is allergic to can broaden over time, so what starts as a flea allergy or a beef allergy can become an allergy to a much wider range of things.  Sonetimes, if allergens may be clinging to their fur, letting an animal have a swim / hosing them down after a walk, or even washing their feet, can prove remarkably effective.   Always make sure that parasites are completely ruled out.  Ultimately, a dernatology referral can be helpful, but it sounds as though theres more than a GP vet may be able to offer you at this stage.  Im sorry to provide no easy answers - best of luck!

Ps A good sttatergy, if ypu are now spread between three vets, would be ringing eahch practise and asking if there's a vet who 'reallly likes skin cases.'  As well as specialists, some vets have ther own personal interests, and its great if one of those corresponds to your pets' own condition.  This said, you havent told me anything that suggests that any of these vets were under-parr.  In my experience of doing this job, I wonder if we vets are remarkably poor at explining from the off the chronic, broadening nature of skin disease.

Correction:  to answer 1.  This ought to read, it sounds as though there's more THAT a GP can help you with at this stage.   With apologies