When U.S. ambassador to Sudan John Godfrey was huddled in Khartoum while dodging bullets and airstrikes, there was one question that he hadn’t expected: How much did the embassy staff’s cats and dogs weigh?

Navy SEALs, who were dispatched to save diplomatic personnel from the clashes that had erupted between feuding Sudanese generals, had agreed to evacuate pets as part of their diplomatic rescue mission. The only stipulations were that the four-legged passengers fit in carry-on bags and that their weight was counted down to the pound.

“The rule of thumb was basically that it had to fit on your lap. We were very fortunate that we didn’t have any outsized pets at the time,” a senior U.S. official said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.