cat symptoms, scooting, howling, litterbox

Question
Dear Hilary,
  I have a 4 year old female cat.  She has a large frame and though most people call her fat, the vet says she is only slightly overweight-17 to 19 lbs. She has short, but very thick dense fur. She is an indoor cat, eats "Deli-Cat" dry catfood, drinks often (everytime we use the restroom she demands water from the faucet),and has no fleas.
 She has to have her anal glands expressed every six months or so.  Last year she was treated for a urinary tract infection.  They finally gave her some Clavamox pills that worked, after trying a few other medications.
  Recently she has been squatting on the box a lot like she did when she had the tract infection, but is not peeing in other places-like she also did.  There is urine in her box and also stool.  After she leaves the box she often dances around and acts crazy, wonders off and howls in corners, sometimes for hours!  She will also "scoot" her bottom, which leaves little trails of liquid. She will also lick her privates after leaving her box.
  I obtained a two-week treatment of the Clavamox again and gave it to her religiously.  When that did not work, I bought some Celerex to treat her for tape worms, if they were there, although I have not seen any.  
  I examined her stool and at first (a week or so ago) they were small and seemed pinkish in color.  I put some in a baggie to bring to the vet.  A few days later I found what looked like a 3 inch piece of wooden mulch attached to one of her stools, it looked as though it had passed through her.  (I take her outside on a leash occasionally, which is where she could've eaten it)  I threw out the baggie of old stool, which had turned a deep red after a few days, because I thought she just had trouble passing the mulch, (if that really was what it was).  Her behavior continued and I reccently examined her stool again and they are small and dry, grayish in color and a few seem to be FILLED with cat hair.  
  A week or so before she was vomiting a lot and also seemed to be coughing or dry-heaving.  I gave her some butter in case it was a hairball.  She stopped throwing up as much.  
 She is due to have her anal glands emptied, but this is not how she normally acts when that time is here.  I was wondering if she may have another kind of worm that would cause pink stools, (I am going to bring the Vet a stool sample).  Would it be possible that she has a hairball obstruction that is leaving her waste so dry and small and hair filled?  Maybe she is straining all the time because it is lodged.  The scooting then I would understand, but the "trail" she leaves, could that be small amounts of urine that was produced from her straining?  Or do you think these are all symptoms of the dreaded urinary tract infection? And if that, why didnt the 2-week treatment of Clavamox help?
 Other than that she appears healthy, active and happy.  She has not lost any weight, and her coat is healthy-I brush it often.
   Thank you so much for your time and concern.  I am not working at the moment, so a vet bill would be detrimental to my bank account.  Thank you so very, VERY much!
Sincerely,
Concerned in Cape Canaveral, (FL)

Answer
Hi there!
To me, it sounds as though a few things may be going on here.  Firstly, the liquid trail sounds like anal gland secretions.  My first guess would be that her anal glands may be abcessed and in need of not only emptying, but flushing out.  I see this often, and with the same symptoms as you are describing to me.
I would definitely bring a stool sample into your veterinarian, as you plan.  What you described does sound like tape worms.  They are small, almost like grains of rice.  If this is what the worms looked like, then this is definitely what the intestinal parasite is.
The grey, dry stool indicates inadequate digestion.  This could be as you said, an intestinal obstruction due to hairballs.  Or this could be an intestinal obstruction caused by something else.  That foreign body you had seen in the stool may have only been a piece of something stuck in the intestinal track.  This type of stool is also associated with dehydration.
I completely understand the financial strain of things and I know what vet bills are, so I am very sympathetic to that.  It sounds as though your cat really does need to be checked by a veterinarian.  There are so many things that could possibly be going on with her.  These things are impossible to diagnose without a stool sample, x-rays and blood work.  Would it be possible to talk to your veterinarian about working out a payment plan for you?  I know every veterinarian is different.  I live in PA and almost every veterinarian around here will accept payment plans.  I know that is not the case in other areas.  I'm sure that if you would explain the situation to your veterinarian, they would be willing to help you out.  I will talk to a few collegues of mine tomorrow and see if we can't come up with something more definite for you as to what may be causing these symptoms in your kitty.
Please let me know how she does and I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help,
Hilary