cat coughing frequently very very very worried! plz help

enzo is a male 8 months old. he has been coughing very frequently since past few hours. it looks like hes trying to throw something up but is unable to. he has never had hairballs before. could this be a hairball? i gave him some grass but he didnt eat any. what worries me more now is the fact that hes sleeping and making these weird hiccup sounds and he'd wake up every now and then and then would cough and go back to sleep. something is really really bothering him and i dont know what to do! can anyone please help???? its 2.30am right now where i live. he has never done this before. hes eating fine though. i am freaking out literally. i have never had cat before so i dont know if this is normal though it doesnt look like i have never seen a cat cough before :/

No, this is definitely not normal. I don't think it's a hairball. I really think he needs a vet ASAP.

I agree this does not sound like a hairball ! If it was my cat I would be at the vets ASAP

i live in pakistan and there are no emergency vets here :'( he's up and having weird hiccup kind of cough continuously. its like hes drawing in very sharp noisy breaths every now and then, every few seconds. i dont know what to do i feel so helpless right now and i cant stop crying

i tried giving him water but he wouldn't drink. should i give him milk? i want to do something to stop this hes my baby i cant bear this :'(

Most cats are lactose intolerant so cow's milk may upset his stomach. I hope you can get him to a vet as soon as one opens. Many vibes for Enzo.

even in all these coughing spasms he still wanted to play so i played with him for like half an hour and the coughing reduced a little. and then gave him water and food to eat. he was really really hungry. and he ate fine. and he played fine too. its like the cough and the shortness of breath isn't bothering him :/ i dont know what to make of it... is it asthama? a hairball? or maybe phlegm getting stuck in his throat? i tried opening his mouth and peeking inside but didn't see anything 6 more hours to go until the vet opens. enzo is sleeping now. i hope and pray he doesnt wake up coughing like before. hes making this snorting kind of noise from his nose and his whole tummy kinda pushes forward.. i dont know how to explain this. english is not my first language :$

It could be drainage and phlegm, especially if he's not throwing up anything.  I have a cat who's allergic to one of the foods we were feeding her and she'd do this.  (We've since stopped the food, but she still gets the coughing fits from time to time.)

What treatment did you use for her?? I am still waiting for the vet to open

How long did her fists lasts? @stephanietx

They seemed to last forever, but they were really about 2 mins.  We stopped the food she was on and the episodes reduced significantly, but she still has them from time to time.  She had one today as a matter of fact.  The vet seems to think they were caused by food allergy and/or airborne allergies.  I took a video of my kitty having one of these episodes and went to the vet with it so the vet could see what happened.  After a very thorough exam, the vet ruled out asthma, heart problems, or some kind of worms.  Other than the coughing, she is extremely healthy.  We did a one week course of a low dose of prednisone (a steroid) and that's helped, too, but not eliminated them.  It takes up to 12 weeks for the body to eliminate all the residual effects of the food, so we're waiting for the 12 week mark to see if she continues to improve.  We're on about week 4 right now.