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I am trying to understand an oddly consistent behavior. I have two cats in my home that will "yowl" at a very specific point of the home, a small hallway leading back to a bathroom and bedroom (which we reserve for guests). I have no idea why. We don't really go to that part of the house very often (unless someone is visiting).

Is something wrong in that part of the home for them? Or perhaps they want us to follow?

They were adopted as a bonded pair of sisters and appear to be primarily Bombay. They are approximately 1.5 years old if that makes a difference.

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    Is the door to that part of the house closed most of the time? If that is the case, it might be your cats requesting the door to be opened so they can investigate and patrol that part of the territory.
    – bgse
    Commented Nov 9, 2020 at 23:23
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    My guess would be that they are hearing distant water movement in the pipes leading to the bathroom and located behind walls, many cats have an obsession with both the sight as well as the sound of the running water, it could be too distant and faint for you to hear but for cats it could be detectable enough to intrigue them, it could also be that maybe some electronic device is placed somewhere in this area and electronic devices sometimes emit faint high-pitched sound that could resemble high frequency sounds emitted by rodents, and it could be what is agitating your cats.
    – lila
    Commented Nov 10, 2020 at 0:21
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    I do not know, how it is with cats, but dogs could become crazy when they hear their own echo. Maybe is the shape of the rooms causing an echo, that the cats make believe in additional cats yowling in their own space... Commented Nov 12, 2020 at 20:49
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    Some cats do enjoy "hearing themselves," yes. When I was renovating a room here and removed the carpet, it developed what was apparently, to one of my cats, a very pleasing echo. She would sit in there and yowl regularly.
    – Allison C
    Commented Apr 23, 2021 at 13:12

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It's possible they like the acoustics. If the area is minimally used and/or minimally furnished, their voices may bounce around in a way that's interesting or pleasing to them, so they head down there to make noise and listen to it. During some renovations where rooms were emptied out here, my cats would frequent the empty spaces and yowl while in them; the behavior stopped when the rooms were re-furnished and the echo stopped.

It's also possible there's a sound generated in that area that you don't hear (as you don't frequent that area), but they do; the sound may be interesting or distressing, and they're responding to it when they go into that part of the house. It might be an electrical sound, a pest in the walls or one of the rooms, or something else.

Or it may be a visible pest (insect or spider) or other stimulus (light) that you aren't noticing due to not frequenting that area; if they want to "hunt" it, and can't reach it, then they may be yowling in frustration at not being able to access the area. Mine often go nuts over reflected lights and pets near the ceiling.

Or, if the doors to those rooms are closed, it may just be natural cat curiosity, and they want to go through that door. Again, this is something I see in my own cats regularly; I have two rooms that are closed off from mine, and at least once a day I hear a cat "yelling" at it and trying to get in.

To address the issue, you'll need to inspect the area, preferably at a time when the behavior is happening. Look and listen for each of these options (and understand that you may not be able to hear or see what they do, as their hearing is more sensitive and their vision more attuned to spotting "prey"). Watch for the patterns triggering the behavior--is it a particular time of day? Are they sitting in a specific spot or looking in a particular direction? By observing both the cats and the area, you'll be able to determine the stimulus causing the yowling, and reduce or eliminate it.

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