Hairballs?

So recently, my kitten Sherman has been doing some kind of hacking sound at random. He will do it right out of his sleep for a minute or so and then stop and be fine. Nothing seems to come up when he does this. Otherwise he's be acting normally, eating fine, drinking water, playing and snuggling. Would this be a hairball that he just can't get up? While I've had Luna for almost 4 years, she has never done this, had hairballs and only thrown up once (and I was only there to see the product.)

How do I know if I have to get him on hairball meds or something? I can't really afford to actually take him in for an appointment for the vet to tell me "oh it's fine". I called my vet today but he wasn't in and the front desk person wouldn't give me any advice. I'm going to call again tomorrow. but in the meantime does anyone have an suggestions or advice?

Thanks!

Is he coughing? if he has an upper respiratory infection, though, he should also have a bit of discharge from nose and eyes. If he does, vet's needed. But if you know the sound of a hairball, that's probably what it is. Does he shed a lot, or groom himself a lot?

Well, he *does* have a little eye and nose discharge. And worse breath than usual (but maybe i'm just noticing that for some reason)

And, no, I don't know what a hairball sounds like. Only from Shrek2 and if MY cat ever sounded like Puss did, I'd take him to the vet immediately. And he does groom himself frequently, but isn't shedding a lot (some). He is still young though so he'll probably shed more when he's full grown.

But yeah, I'll definately call the vet tomorrow. I'm kinda annoyed b/c my cousin's kitten came over and I found out later that he had an eye infection..and right after that Shermie's eyes started goo-ing and now his nose is goo-ing too and also the coughing. grrr....