A plea to help raise $6,000 in a bid to save Summer, a dog found tied in the woods, with apparent complications from overbreeding, is at the heart of a message shared by Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter Director Laura Burban on Aug. 4.

Summer was found in the heat of the late July and taken in by the Branford-North Branford municipal, no-kill animal shelter. Burban’s plea for help was posted on the shelter’s Facebook page following two life-saving surgeries performed on Summer. While Summer survived the surgeries, she remains in critical condition.

Burban said she couldn’t imagine how anyone could leave a dog in that condition. The issue was compounded in recent days, when the Summer started to leak fluid in a way that’s indicative of a pyrometra infection of the uterus. The condition is common in dogs that are overbred, said Burban.

Summer was given a spaying procedure, after which Summer began to show signs of internal bleeding. Emergency surgery was required. Burban said Aug. 4 was a “critical day” in the dog’s recovery path, requiring additional medical care to help her pull through.

“The estimate is near $6,000,” Burban shared. “We need to raise money for Summer. I feel bad because all this week I feel like we continually asked for help for these poor abandoned animals, and I didn’t know I would be asking again. But Summer deserves this chance and desperately needs us right now.”

Anyone willing to help can make a donation online at https://www.branford-ct.gov/departments/animal-shelter/donation with the notation Summer under “special sellers instructions.” Checks can be mailed to DCAS, 11 Cherry Hill Road, Branford CT 06405 .

Burban also emphasized the importance of spaying and neutering pets.

“Please take responsibility for them when you bring them into your homes . Please do not say it’s not your problem. Summer would have died if she was not provided with the life-saving surgeries she received. And all they had to do was to spay her and this infection would not have started.”