Swollen like a football/soccerball

I have a problem, well my family has a problem. You will need a bit of a back story to understand it so here we go. 

I rent a house on a farm and since this farm have two big barns people drop off their unwanted kittens or summer cats here and just go. There are also some summer houses around the farm and most people get summer cats and leave them when autumn comes. This was the case with a beautiful tortoieshell queen that we named Ofelia. She came to us during winter about 9 years ago or something because she wanted food.

She is too afraid to be carried or taken to the vet and doesn't dare go into the house so she lives outside all year but we give her food and have a shed in the yard where she can stay during winter.

Last year she got really big and we thought she was pregnant so we started counting down the weeks to see when they would most likely arrive. She went way way past the "due date" but kept being swollen. So we guessed she'd gotten worms and gave her medicine for it. It didn't help. She didn't seem to suffer or anything, not even if we petted her stomach. Over night she was back to her normal size again. She was big and swollen for almost four months and then it was just gone.

Now it's happened again and she is too afraid of a carrier and gets too stressed when hold so I can't catch her and bring her to the vet. Does anyone know what this might be? She looks like a football/soccerball with legs... She doesn't seem to suffer but I don't know what to do.

This is certainly alarming.

At least it is not fip which would be the worst scenario.

While there are a few things it may be, none of them would explain the sudden loss of her tummy either.

I tend to believe it is fluid filled somehow, something that may easily be fixed with surgery. 

It could be constipation/buildup, but I highly doubt that too.

I would get her in to a vet, definitely.

There are some very creative ways of getting her into a cage or carrier.

Rig a string on the door, run it through the back of the carrier and be a distance away from it.

Bait it with food she can't resist, and pull the srting, closing her in. Be sure to hold it snugly before you get it latched.

Also, you might want to spray the carrier down with a household cleaner like 409 or other, and hose it off well. This is because anytime carriers are used, the cat's vet smells and fear, and adrenaline are left behind in it.

Once a cat smells this, there is no way in hell he is going to get in that!

Use tuna It works awesome.

I have tried that thing with the string but Offie (as we call her) gave me a look that clearly said: "Do you think I'm stupid?" and walked the other way... But I'll try to figure something out.

I know that look!

It's always easiest using something she is not familiar with the looks of, a trap? A drop trap? Cage?

Anything that can contain her without escaping.

But she's so sneaky... She is also old in the game so to speak. I think she's 9 years old maybe even 10 or 11. She was a grown cat when she got abandoned and I do't know for how long she'd been taking care of herself when we rescued her.

But I'll figure something out. I will not let myself be outsmarted by a cat...

I always say the same thing, no way is this cat gonna outsmart me! haha funny, cats are pretty darn smart that's for sure