Wheezing cat

I have two 1.2 year old cats - one male and one female. The girl, Lucy, has had "coughing" fits for as long as I can remember. Sometimes it's brought on by drinking water, but other times she'll do it out of nowhere. It's not a real cough. It's more like a gentle wheezing -- her nostrils flare up and she gets into position to cough, but it's never a very loud noise. She's seen two vets during her life, and neither seemed concerned with it. I have an 18 year old cat who is on prednisone for allergies/asthma so I'm wondering if it can be related. I don't want it to be (or turn into) something serious. Should I be worried?

Hmmm...one of my cats coughs almost every time he drinks from the fountain.  So, naturally, I figured he had asthma, just because I am a worrywart when it comes to my fur babies.  But the Vet couldn't find anything wrong.  Then next I thought it must be HCM, and  bugged the Vet endlessly about that, and she still said she didn't suspect anything.  So far, so good.  He, apparently, just can't figure out how to drink from the fountain without getting water in his nose or something

So, with that in mind, I would say if 2 different Vets can't find anything, I'm guessing all is well.  I would just make sure you mention it at every single visit as long as she continues to do it, so they can pay particular attention to her heart and lungs.

Wheezing sounds like asthma to me... Hopefully that's not it but maybe a third opinion? Good luck!