14 year old Maine coon showing odd symptoms -- please help

Hello, I have a female Maine coon named Blinx who is turning 14 years old August 15th.

For the past 4 years, she has not been able to eat wet food. Whenever she does get some (accidentally), she gets a UTI. It takes her about a week to recover. This has happened ever since the surgery she had to remove her uterus. She also has difficulty cleaning her bottom area after this surgery and I often have to wipe her or bathe her.

Recently, it has gotten even worse. Last year when she got some, she had symptoms so horrible that I was wondering if she would survive. She was straining to urinate and defecate, was crying a lot, and in severe pain. Her back end was swollen and red and she smelled horribly. It did not smell like urine or feces but rather something else entirely. It almost smelled like a rotting carcass. She would leak, so that her back legs were wet. I had to bathe her once a day because of this and also so the urine wouldn't continue burning her. She would lay in the litter box and hide under the bureau. Finally she got better once I started giving her this medicine called "Pet Alive UTI free".

Now three days ago, it happened again, but it was worse this time. She was shaking uncontrollably, and was extremely lethargic. Her back end was swollen again and she was straining to urinate and defecate. And the urine would leak down her legs again and it was brown in color. I thought the shaking might have been caused because she was hypoglycemic, so I tried feeding her, but after she ate, she puked, and then went back to hiding under the bureau.

That night, I looked at her bottom, and noticed the vagina was leaking a sort of slime as well as being mis-colored. So I was thinking that she had an infection, and so I gave her a small dose of Vitamin C and Vitamin D3 (I checked the proper dosage for cats of her weight -- don't worry). I also used an eye dropper to force water into her mouth because she was refusing to eat or drink. And then I also got a bag of chamomile tea to put with her as she slept, I was hoping to stop the shaking by doing this. The next morning, she was doing much better. She had a full pee, and it was clear. She was happy again, purring and relaxed and no more shaking or hiding.

I ran out of that medicine, the Pet Alive UTI free medicine, so I ordered more as soon as I could. I got it yesterday and so have been giving her that. She is acting much better, more like herself. But there are still a few odd things she's doing... First, she is sleeping a real lot. And she still isn't eating that much, but is eating at least, just less than usual. I only seen her eat once today, she usually goes to the dry food dish throughout the day. But she is drinking regularly. Another strange thing is that her eyes are watering a lot and the films (those films that go over their eyes when they sleep) seem to be swollen. They are visible, I usually can't see them at all. And then yesterday, when she was purring, her tongue was sticking out a little and she was inhaling from her mouth rather than from her nose? And her nose sounded a bit stuffy.

I was wondering if the chamomile caused the watery eyes and the breathing issues? I removed it. I was also wondering why eating wet good causes such severe symptoms? Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you so much for taking the time to read and respond.

That is very strange wet food affecting her like that as normally it is dried food which cause problems due to the cat not drinking the extra water needed to make up for the water loss through eating dried food so good thing that you get extra fluids into her when she is poorly as she is more likely to dehydrate, that can make them lethargic, wobbly & spaced out, urine infection aside the swollen back end & crying while trying to toilet made me think more of blocked anal glands that could even have had an abscess there too, can make an animal very poorly but once they unblock themselves or if an abscess there it bursts there is instant relief, either/ or both very smelly ,have you had her checked by the vets when she is in such a state, if not would be worth a visit just in case it is something she needs more help with....xxx

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Originally Posted by jckkerrison

That is very strange wet food affecting her like that as normally it is dried food which cause problems due to the cat not drinking the extra water needed to make up for the water loss through eating dried food so good thing that you get extra fluids into her when she is poorly as she is more likely to dehydrate, that can make them lethargic, wobbly & spaced out, urine infection aside the swollen back end & crying while trying to toilet made me think more of blocked anal glands that could even have had an abscess there too, can make an animal very poorly but once they unblock themselves or if an abscess there it bursts there is instant relief, either/ or both very smelly ,have you had her checked by the vets when she is in such a state, if not would be worth a visit just in case it is something she needs more help with....xxx

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It is very strange, isn't it? I was thinking the same thing. I'm wondering if she has some sort of allergy to wet food, although she was able to eat it before her surgery... seems like too much of a coincidence there. My main plan so far is just to make absolute sure that she does not get this wet food.

I'll have to look into this anal gland thing, although I think it's related to her vagina more than her anus.

I have wanted dreadfully to take her to the vet, but neither me or my parents can afford it. It is horribly frustrating.

Thank you for your help.

I wanted to update...
Blinx has been doing incredibly well. Her eyes are no longer leaking since I removed the chamomile bag, I do think she was allergic to it. She also is not having trouble breathing in the slightest. Her urine is good, she doesn't smell. She is healthy and active and is actually doing better now than she was doing before she even went through all of this. She's been a lot more active and more affectionate.
I really can't say enough good things about the Pet Alive UTI free medicine... it may be expensive, but it's worth buying if you have a cat who is suffering from UTI troubles.

That's really good to know, thanks for sharing. <3

There seems to be conflicting information about whether or not chamomile is safe for cats; some sites say their toxic and some say it's relaxing. If you can get a hold of some valerian root based spray or something, that may be a better alternative.