Coughing cat

I am searching for some clues for Sunny's coughing issues. I have had her to two vets and on Prednisolone two times, plus deworming (altho she is an indoor only girl). She has been coughing off and on for a month this go-round although it does not seem to affect her much. The vet said it was in her trachea, not lungs, but this time the Prenisolone did nothing. She has a great appetite (but not excessive), is on Blue food (was on dry but switched her two days ago to canned). She thinks she has died and gone to heaven with it.

I noticed months ago she was sneezing and changed her litter from PetSmart generic back to a better quality, and switched her food from Eukanuba to Spot's Stew. SS made her vomit, so then we went to Blue Buffalo. It suits her fine and no grain in it, but now am thinking maybe she needs a wet food or a raw diet (recipe anyone??). She no longer sneezes.

She is about 5 1/2 years old (not kitten), an orange female tabby, great personality and energy. She does not get short of breath or fatigued, is quite active all the time and when she starts coughing she comes to me so I can 'thump' her (I am a Medical Massage Therapist) over her lungs which she purrs through while coughing.

Any ideas?? We did move to OR from CO a year and a half ago and I have different allergies than I did in CO.

I appreciate any input you can give me. She does not get treated for fleas as she does not go out. Thanks!! Candace

The vets have ruled out a heart problem? She's been tested for heartworm? (Transmitted by mosquitos, inside only cats can get them). They've elminated asthma - her lungs are clear? I know they listened... but did they do an xray?

Is it potentially hairballs?

And if she's doing better on the no grain diet, and it's an all dry diet, maybe try initially adding wet and reducing the amount of dry (unless you're free feeding). If you want thoughts on how to make the switch to all wet from free feeding dry, just ask me LOL, we did it. You can start by giving her two meals of wet food a day.

And I know I sound like a broken record to other members of TCS , but we have an FIV+ kitty with allergies. Our normal vets (who are excellent!) couldn't solve his many problems. So we searched to find a holistic vet (also trained as a DVM). We found one that was a 35 - 45 minute drive from our home. She had him fixed up with the first treatments she tried and the diet recommendations she made. (She's trained in acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in addition to being a regular vet). Of course, this type of treatment takes a little longer than western meds - but you can probably tell within a few weeks if you're on the right track. Particularly if it's allergies or an immune-system problem, Chinese Medicine seems to work really well when western medicine fails, IMO. You can search at the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Association. The designation for someone trained in Chinese Medicine would be the use of chinese herbs. http://www.ahvma.org.

Hope any of this helps!