Sharon Au's Cat Has a French Passport

The home-grown personality adopted the white-and-black cat from a Paris animal shelter in 2020

- Joanne Soh

It was love at first sight when Sharon Au set eyes on a sickly male white kitten, one which 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 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 2020.

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 quiet and docile travel companion.