"Poor abandoned Kitty" noises for no reason

Our cat is almost 2 years old and just recently he started making a loud whine that sounds like "yown" and I can only describe as "oh, poor me, I have been abandoned..."
I might go to my sewing room and my husband will go to the bathroom and he will stand in the hallway and make the noise. Everytime he does it we say "Pooh, we're right here" or something. He can find us if he wants to and usually can see where we go!
Is he just looking for attention?

Info that may or may not help:
We leave by 7am and don't get home until 7pm or so during the week.
He can go anywhere in the house.
He is an only cat.
He is nuetered.
He's not a lap cat or a lover. He's a "vacinity" cat. If we are in the living room, he will sit in the same room as us. He sometimes jumps on the bed at night, but will always sleep at our feet.
He plays, eats and uses the litter box normally.

He just loves you guys and feels abandoned when he can't see you! He's only asking where'd y'all go!!! Don't leave me!! You'll just have to start telling him where you're going before you go. That's what I have to do with my three!!

Oh my gosh, you just totally explained my cat. I was going to ask the same question. The only difference is that he will follow you where ever you go and then he will sit and meow at you. If you give him attention, he will jump down off your lap, and walk away, for a minute or two and them come into the room and meow somemore. I have no idea what he is looking for.

WOW your not alone here my Kita does that from time to time as I was reading this it made sense I always talk to her even if I leave the room I will say Bye to her ...I know I'm

..LOL I think it happens after a nap she remembers me being there.
Funny they are....

One of my cats does the same thing. Anytime I leave the room she starts those pitiful-sounding yowls, as if she's been abandoned.

Nabu does that too. I can't figure out how he thinks he can't find us in a 1-bedroom apartment. He cracks me up sometimes. Nabu is usually feeling like he needs hugs and has to get our attention when he gets the "howlies".
It works.

Well, I am glad that my Pooh is not the only one who does this. We were really starting to get worried about it.

Mine just started doing that A LOT lately... I'm home on summer vacation, which means he gets a lot more of me, and he cries and cries, I ask him "What?" and he tells me a story... I go to pick him up and he doesn't let me... I try to pet him and he runs... I just think he has something to say and says it and gets over it when I ask him what he wants and he gets to tell me his answer.

We have exactly the same problem with Millie. It's not a meaow more of a chirp or 'burrrrp, burrrrrp' noise. She only does it when we are either in bed (trying to sleep) or if one of us is out and the other is say upstairs on the internet.

She usually sits on the bottom step of our stairs (or at the bottom of the bed) in exactly the same place everytime. Even if we talk to her or show our face, she won't stop !! Eventually I'll go down to her and she either stops or runs off. As soon as I go back upstairs or leave her again, she'll go back and start all over. Can be really annoying at 4:00am