My cat is 3 years old.  Ever since we have had him he has had puking fits
about once every 2-3 weeks.  When he has these fits he will throw up food in
a couple of big piles, and then he'll continue to throw up what looks like a
milky, mucas like substance.  He has now developed another problem in the
last couple weeks.  He has been getting into these hacking fits that almost
sounds like he's trying to get a hairball out, yet he never coughs up
anything.  It's like the hairball doesn't exist but he sure is struggling
with whatever is causing him to make this gurgling/hacking sound.  His
purring has also gotten like 3 times louder than normal.  It sounds like he
has flem in his throat that he just can't clear.  We give him hairball
treats and try to give him hairball medicine, but nothing seems to be making
this go away.  We took him to the vet, but they just always blow us off like
nothing's wrong.  They just keep telling us "we have a puky cat."  I'm
sorry, but I don't buy that crap!  I've known many cats over the years and
have never seen anything like this.  Our vet did say that he is most likely
getting into my wife's dried flowers, and possibly the garbage at night and
is eating things that would upset his stomach and could make him throw up.
This part might be true considering he destroyed what was left of my wife's
fern the other night, and the very next day he was puky.  But that still
doesn't explain the wheezing, gurgling, and hacking that's been going on the
last couple of weeks.  I've been trying to thing of anything that we've done
differently around here that would have caused this.  We've had him on
Purina One Indoor Cat Formula for a long time now, so it shouldn't be the
food.  The only thing that's been different the last couple weeks is that we
accidentally bought regular Scoop Away cat litter.  We normally buy
Multi-Cat Formula.  I wouldn't think a change in cat litter like that would
make a difference, especially since it's the same brand.  Any thoughts on
what we should do?  Thanks.

~ Phil