Singer Fiona Apple cancels tour dates to be with ailing dog

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Grammy award-winning singer Fiona Apple said in a handwritten letter posted on her website on Tuesday that she has canceled upcoming tour dates in North and South America to be with her ailing dog.

Apple, who vowed to make up the concerts, called off three shows in Brazil between November 27 and 30, a Buenos Aires festival appearance on December 1-2 and a December 9 performance in Mexico City, according to her record label, Epic.

The "Criminal" singer and pianist said her 13-year-old pit bull Janet has been suffering from a tumor in her chest among other ailments and appears to be dying.

"She's my best friend and my mother and my daughter, my benefactor and she's the one who taught me what love is," Apple wrote in the four-page letter she penned last week but did not release until Tuesday. "I can't come to South America. Not now."

Apple, 35, said that she wants to appreciate the final days with her dog. "I will not be the woman who puts her career ahead of love and friendship," Apple wrote.

The singer-songwriter, who is touring in support of "The Idler Wheel ... " album, was arrested in September in Texas and charged with felony drug possession for having four grams of hashish, a form of cannabis.

(Reporting By Eric Kelsey; editing by Patricia Reaney and Todd Eastham)