Fiona Apple Cancels South American Tour Dates For Dying Dog

Fiona Apple has canceled four upcoming tour dates in order to care for her ailing 14-year-old dog. On Tuesday, Apple made the announcement with a four-page handwritten letter posted to her Facebook page chronicling her relationship her beloved pooch and asking fans to understand.

According to the New York Times, Apple has just wrapped the North American portion of her tour for the album "The Idler Wheel Is Wiser Than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More Than Ropes Will Ever Do" and was scheduled to perform in São Paulo, Porto Alegre and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this month. The Grammy-winning performer was also slated to perform in Mexico City next month.

“I am not the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship. I am the woman who stays home and bakes Tilapia for my dearest, oldest friend,” Apple said in the letter. “I am staying home, and I am listening to her snore and wheeze and reveling in the swampiest, most awful breath that ever emanated from an angel. And I am asking for your blessing.”

Though no plans to reschedule canceled performances have been announced, the singer does hint that she and her fans may "meet a little while later."

Apple states in the letter that she rescued Janet, a pit bull once used in dogfights, from Echo Park in Los Angeles, Calif. Apple, who was 21 at the time of the rescue, referred to the dog as "my child" and wrote that she is suffering from Addison's Disease and a chest tumor.

According to PetInsurance, Addison's Disease is a hormonal disorder that typically affects middle-age female dogs.

"Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact." Apple adds. "She's my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor, and she's the one who taught me what love is. I can't come to South America. Not now."

The June release of "The Idler Wheel" marked the 35-year-old's highly anticipated return to music after a seven-year hiatus.

Apple, who made her debut in the 1994, made headlines in September when TMZ reported that she was arrested in Sierra Blanca, Texas, for hashish possession.