E-collar problems - How to keep a cat from licking a wound?

Thank you for your advice! It's good to know your cat accepted it after a while, and I hope Gorgeous will get used to it as well. I'm something of a pushover in things like this. It makes me feel like a terrible person to put it back on (or rather, she made me feel like a terrible person when I put it on! ), but I know it's for her own good.

The litterbox isn't covered—I tried a covered box once, and none of the cats used it, so it was removed. The thing that worries me is that she likes sleeping under my bed where it's cool—it's 95f right now with the fan running—but the bed is too low for her to get under it comfortably wearing the collar. I'll crack open the closet for her, and see if she'll take to sleeping in there for a couple of days.

The abscess does seem to be healing, but I haven't been able to apply the cream to it as regularly as I should, precisely because she keeps trying to lick it off.