A woman found a scruffy dog "curled up quietly in a corner, staring forlornly out of the cage" at an adoption drive early last year.

It was love at first sight.

Without giving a second thought, she signed the papers and took that dog home in a bid to give her a good home.

Soon, Li-Anne Sia and her dog, Popo (short for "Potato"), became inseparable.

Popo's surgery

In a heartbreaking Facebook post on Apr. 20, Sia shared that Popo, currently " lies in a cage in the pet hospital scared and in pain after a major operation."

In the post, Sia wrote about the extensive injuries that Popo sustained, requiring a major surgery to fix a herniation so extensive that "even the vet was shocked":

"Her insides are filled with scar tissue from countless C sections. Her muscle tone weakened from multiple pregnancies, leading to herniation at 4 locations. One of the areas has even become a “blind spot”, with tissue having grown over the abberation, her body’s bid to fix itself."

Sia added that Popo is currently eight years old, and considered middle-aged in dog years, so she should have many good years ahead. Yet, her dog was already riddled with so many afflictions.

"By right she should have many more years of running around in pure, unadulterated joy...But because of the horrific trauma her past has inflicted on her tiny body, she may no longer be able to do any of that anymore."

Injury from puppy mills

Sia explained that Popo's injuries were sustained from a puppy mill where she was made to breed repetitively in a deplorable environment.

Puppy mills are run by dog breeders who make a living from the dogs they breed.

In Sia's words,

"Puppies from the puppy mills are bred strictly for maximum profit. You are essentially throwing your money into a ruthless machine that exploits these helpless animals.

How could people use that little thing (Po po) as if she was a machine, making her bear litter after litter of puppies? How could they callously cut her up time and again to extract those puppies in short order so as to make a quick buck? How could they chuck her battered, bleeding body aside, amidst filth and neglect, expecting her to heal herself only to repeat the horrifying cycle again when she’s hardly recovered?"

Education and adopting

Sia clarified that she is not vilifying people who pay for their pets.

"It does not and will not help anyone if I judge those who have bought a pup from the pet shop or a home breeder. You didn’t know better then. Cos if you did, I’m sure you would steer clear of these places like the plague."

With her post, she hopes that people will rescue rather than shop for dogs, and in doing so, curb the demand for irresponsible breeding practices:

"I sincerely hope that all it takes is a bit of education to steer someone towards rescuing a dog. Judgment and condemnation only serve to drive people away. If you truly want to make changes in animal welfare, take a stand with me and rally against irresponsible breeding practices.

Maybe you didn't know any better before but now that you do, please stop."

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This is Sia's full Facebook post:

Top photo collage from Li-Anne Sia's Facebook.

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