They say cats have nine lives, but an agonizing choice for two pet owners threatened to jinx their one chance at a new life in Canada.

Instead, a pair of Syrian refugees who had already faced four years of hardship had a uniquely heartwarming airport reunion on Sunday with the pet they’d reluctantly left behind.

“It has been so stressful. He really is like a son to us,” said Nour Kaadan as she awaited the arrival of her cat at Pearson airport’s Terminal 1.

With no home, jobs or family in Beirut, Kaadan and Tarek Ghriri adopted a newborn kitten for company while living in exile from war-torn Syria.

They named the cat Emp, which means “grumpy” in Arabic — no relation to the Grumpy Cat of Internet fame — because the grey and white tabby is very shy and gets annoyed easily around strangers. The couple quickly grew attached to their furry friend.

“When I’m sad, he makes me happy. When I’m sick, he wouldn’t leave me. Emp is everything to us. He is our only family outside of Syria. I can’t sleep. We can’t live without him,” Kaadan said last week, as the couple and their sponsors frantically tried to make arrangements to reunite the feline with its owners.

When they first met with Canadian officials in Lebanon last month to pick up their visa to come here under a private refugee sponsorship, one of Kaadan’s first questions was whether Emp could come to Canada with them.

“I was so happy when the officer said Canadians value pets,” noted Kaadan, 29, a musician from Damascus, who landed in Canada last Tuesday. “That was a relief.”

But the relief was short-lived, as they were forced to leave Emp behind with an acquaintance in Beirut.

According to the couple and their Canadian sponsor, Lufthansa staff in the Beirut airport refused to board Emp despite an advance confirmation that the cat could be placed in cargo space.

They claim the German airline’s staff demanded they pay $50 (U.S.) for a bigger cat box and an extra $200 for the transport on top of the $200 they were initially told it would cost.

“I called and they told me they had no space in the cabin because there were already two dogs booked, but they had cargo space. We gave them all the dimensions. We had the paperwork to show the cat was immunized and fit for travel,” recalled Jasmin Zine, who is part of the private sponsorship group that brought the family to Canada.

“They said it’s fine and make sure you have food and water for the cat. Nour and Tarek just didn’t have the extra money.”

In an email, a spokesperson for Lufthansa said part of its job in transporting animals is to ensure their safety, and its Beirut team clearly felt the crate ordered was not large enough for the cat for a journey of that duration and could endanger the animal’s life.

The airline’s policies state that a cat or dog must be able to turn around in its container or cage in order to travel.

“At Lufthansa, we fully understand the deep bond people have with their animals, and we know that for people in distress such as this Syrian family, their relationship can be even more important,” said Tal Muscal of the airline, which hosts an animal lounge at its terminal in Frankfurt.

On Sunday in Toronto, Ghriri was taken to customs and reunited with the beloved pet. As he walked through the gate, Kaadan tearily ran up and began trying to kiss the cat through the cage, though the animal bore all the marks of a weary traveller after an almost 24-hour trip.

“He’s tired and grumpy and smells like cat pee,” said a clearly relieved Kaadan.

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While Kaadan and Ghriri are happy to be reunited with their pet, they and their sponsors feel the larger issue is how some airport staff deal with refugees. The couple say some staff at the Beirut airport cautioned they could lose their opportunity to go to Canada if they did not get on the plane and rather stayed with their cat."

“This is (emblematic) of the systematic racism and differential treatment that refugees face,” said Zine, a sociology and Muslim studies professor at Wilfrid Laurier University.

“Everyone who has pets knows they become part of your family. Pets provide you with unconditional love,” Zine said. “Nour and Tarek have gone through so much trauma from the war. The cat has become their child. It’s therapeutic to them.”

Now, with their family whole again, the Syrian couple say they are ready to start building their new life in Canada.

Correction – June 12, 2017: This article was edited from a previous version that said Lufthansa staff threatened the couple that they would be sent back to Syria if they didn’t get on the plane without the cat. In fact, the staff cautioned that they would stay in Lebanon and lose their opportunity to go to Canada if they didn’t get on the plane.

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