Despite releasing her first album this year since 2005's Extraordinary Machine, 2012 has not been very good to Fiona Apple: first she was arrested in September for drug possession, and now her faithful dog of 14 years is dying.

In a Facebook message to her fans, Apple revealed in a scanned handwritten letter why she is postponing her current tour. “I just can’t leave her now, please understand... If I go away again, I’m afraid she’ll die and I won’t have the honor of singing her to sleep, of escorting her out," she wrote.

Apple went on to write about how important Janet - a pitbull once used in dog fights whom she rescued as a puppy - is to her. "She’s my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor, and she’s the one who taught me what love is... Janet has been the most consistent relationship of my adult life, and that is just a fact."

The singer-songwriter had just completed the North American leg of her tour and was due to perform in Brazil next week.