Cat hairball problem

I'm thinking this is the right place to put my problem, but tell me if I'm wrong.

Anyways, a few days ago, my cat had a coughing fit. The coughing type, sounded like he had a hairball. Our cat is 15 years, male.

This lasted for about five minutes, before he went silent. He laid down and sounded like he was swallowing something, and if he is, I really don't want him to swallow hairballs. I'm a little worried, and wondering if I should do something about this. He hasn't coughed in a while.

At age 15, it could be heart issues.  Coughing isn't anything to mess around with.  It could be a hairball, could be heart issues, could even be asthma.  If you want, go over to YouTube and look at some videos of cats with asthma and see if it looks like that, or check out this video for heart issues:

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/239533/cat-cough-when-it-can-turn-out-to-be-a-sign-of-a-deadly-disease

It's hard to watch the video, but sometimes necessary

Alright, it could be that, but he ended up throwing up himself yesterday. He did so in three spots in little bits, they had a foamy white texture to it. He proceeded to go behind the tv and lay down in a ball for a few hours, wouldn't look at us and we had to pet him for him to look at us.

After a while, he came back out and my dad set up some blankets for him, with food, water, and of course his litter box nearby. He stayed on the blankets for a few hours, then got off, got some water, then went back again. We decided that was a good sign.

In between being on the blankets he frequently cleaned himself, so he might be having trouble going to the washroom.

(he did go in two spots outside of the litter box in small bits, which he NEVER does)

I'm going to be watching him tomorrow, see if he'll eat any food. We're hoping he gets better before Sunday or a little later today, if he gets better we're bringing him to the vet on Monday, if he doesn't then we'll do it before then.

If he is not eating like normal, withdrawing from the family (behind the TV or anywhere else out of the norm), urinating outside the litterbox, even licking himself in his private parts more than usual...these are all signs something is wrong.  He needs to see a Vet sooner than later.  It might be something as benign as a Urinary Tract Infection, but if he is urinating only small bits, he might be blocking, which is very serious, life threatening if he were to fully block.  I'm not saying this is what is happening,but from what you are describing, something is wrong .  

for your old guy.  Hopefully it's nothing serious. 

We're taking him to the vet, even if the symptoms vanish we still are going to.

He actually got up today and drank some water, ate a bit of food. When my dad came home, a little after he moved onto the couch. Although this is nice to see, we're going to try giving him wet food (he prefers dry food, but recently started to enjoy wet a bit more, and we think this might ease him), and going to the vet will be a BIG yes.