I've had plenty of experience with coughing!

Ask your vet about the potentials for ASTHMA.

Josie has asthma and she started out coughing as a kitten. We let her cough like that for probably the first year of her life. Didn't know what was going on. Finally she got so bad, she almost died on us. We had to rush her to the ER vet one night and they said we'd gotten her there just in time. Now she has to have an "allergy shot" about every 6-8 weeks to control her asthma attacks.

Who ever knew that a cat could have asthma?

There are a few other cats on this board with asthma.