Kate Mansi Mourns the Loss of Her Dog, Leighla May

There is no timeline when it comes to grief, and soap star Kate Mansi has been mourning the death of her beloved dog, Leighla May, for the past few months. The actress — who daytime fans first met during her run as DAYS OF OUR LIVES’ Abigail before she joined the cast of GENERAL HOSPITAL as Kristina earlier this year — shared the sad news in an Instagram post that her sweet dog had crossed the rainbow bridge.

“Leighla May, my ride or die for 15 years,” the heartbroken actress shared. “The last of which I spent wishing on every eyelash/birthday candle for ‘just one more year together.’ She truly lived up to her namesake and ‘put my worried mind at ease.’ (Clapton for those in the back row.)”

That song lyric Mansi mentioned is from the iconic Eric Clapton tune “Layla” — the inspiration behind Leighla May’s name — and the full lyric is “Layla, darling, won’t you ease my worried mind.”

Mansi added that putting together a post in memory of her sweet dog took her some time as she navigated the rollercoaster of emotions that went with saying goodbye to her fur baby. “This has taken me months, and I still haven’t really grieved. But I guess grief is like that. In the words of my new fave artist you may not have heard of yet, Taylor Swift, ‘This is me trying.’”

Mansi shared several personal photos of beautiful memories she’d made with Leighla May over the past 15 years which you can see in the gallery below.