From Udon to Rudon: Sharon Au on her cat's name change and his very own French passport, Entertainment News

AsiaOne

5 days ago

SINGAPORE - It was love at first sight when Sharon Au set eyes on a sickly male white kitten, one who looked "terrible".
"He was born with an eye virus infection and had tear stains around his eyes," says the home-grown personality who is based in Paris.
She adds that the kitten's unique appearance - it has black patches on its face, and a black tail with a white tip - "wasn't considered cute or adorable".
"Nobody wanted to pick him, but he reminded me of myself when I was young - I was never a cute kid, I'm more the 'weird' one," says the actress-host, 49, who adopted him from a Paris animal shelter in 2000.
She named the two-month-old kitten Udon, like the Japanese noodle, but the French authorities rejected that name.
"He has to be called Rudon, because in France, there is a naming convention for pets. All names need to start with a designed alphabet to specify which year it was born," Au says. The letter R was the alphabet for the year 2020.
So Udon became Rudon, and as part of his registration process, he had to undergo check-ups, vaccinations and micro-chipping.
"Rudon is very classy, very French; he has his own French passport, which allows him to travel anywhere within the European Union," says Au with a laugh.
Rudon, five, has travelled with her to several European cities. Au, who has been living in the French capital for eight years, says Rudon is a very quiet and docile travel companion.
"I have seen many cats meowing throughout the entire train ride; maybe they are very anxious," she adds.
"When I unzip the bag, he pops out only to stretch. He's very calm."
Au is starring in bilingual theatre play The River Remembers by Ding Yi Music Company, as part of Singapore's SG60 celebrations.
She plays Mother River, a symbol of heritage, resilience and renewal that helped shape a nation, carrying dreams to the future. The River Remembers will be staged at the Drama Centre on Aug 16.
She will also be a co-host of Find Me A Singaporean: The World's My Stage, a docuseries celebrating Singaporeans who have made their mark beyond the little red dot. The eight-episode show is available on demand on mewatch and airs every Thursday at 8pm on Channel 8.
Au cannot bring Rudon to Singapore when she returns home to visit her mother or for work.
"Rudon is an indoor cat and has been acclimatised to Paris' cool weather," says Au, adding that he is comfortable in his familiar home environment and that she does not want to stress him out. He has two cat-sitters on standby for times when she is away.
"He has undergone a traumatic experience and it took us both more than three months to get over it," she says, referring to the time her apartment was broken into in 2022. She was out but Rudon was at home at the time.
Au felt deeply traumatised, depressed and helpless after the break-in. Her home was supposed to be in the safest neighbourhood in Paris, yet the burglary took place.
The burglars took almost everything from her apartment, except for her violin, keyboard, guitar and books. They were never caught.
She shares that she was in a "very deep depressive state and emotionally gone". The experience left her feeling wrecked and unable to function normally for some time, and she had to rely on her friends for support.
Similarly, Rudon developed post-traumatic stress disorder. "He became very jumpy and hid under the bed at every small sound," Au says.
He was especially afraid of the main door, which had been broken down during the incident.
"Every time he hid under the bed, I had to crawl in to comfort and reassure him, repeatedly telling him that he was safe and that there were no more horrible men," says Au.
Helping Rudon recover from the trauma was also a way of healing for Au, as they clung on to each other for support during those trying months.
She describes the cat as being "very human" and credits him with saving her and helping her through one of the most difficult times in her life.
She jokes that his personality is more like a dog's than a typical cat's. He is affectionate and intelligent, and can play football, ring the bell when he wants snacks, do tricks like give high-fives and understand commands in several languages - English, French, Japanese and Mandarin.
"I used to FaceTime him when I was in Singapore, thinking he would miss my presence," says Au. But she soon found out from her cat-sitters that Rudon never responded to the screen.
She admits she is often more anxious about missing Rudon than he is about missing her, but she knows she is being missed.
"He'd get extremely clingy and needy when I'm back," says Au, adding that her fur kid always follows her around and sleeps with her.
"I did think about returning to Singapore for good after the burglary, but I know Rudon will not take to Singapore well," she says.
She adds that she will "stay in Paris for Rudon" and has structured her life around ensuring his comfort and well-being.
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This article was first published in The Straits Times . Permission required for reproduction.