Once upon a time, many years ago-when our grandfathers were little children-there was a doctor, and his name was Dolittle-John Dolittle, M. D
He was very fond of animals and kept many kinds of pets
Then his sister, Sarah Dolittle, came to him and said,
"John, how can you expect sick people to come and see you when you keep all these animals in the house? It's a fine doctor would have his
parlor full of hedgehogs and micel That's the fourth personage these animals have driven away."...
So, as time went on the Doctor got more and more animals; and the people who came to see him got less and less...
And he kept on getting still more pets; and of course it cost a lot to feed them. And the money he had saved up grew littler and littler.
Then he sold his
piano, and let the mice live in a bureau-drawer. But the money he got for that too began to go, so he sold the brown suit he
wore on Sundays and went on becoming poorer and poorer.
And now, when he walked down the street in his high hat, people would say to one another, "There goes John Dolittle, M. D.I There was a
time when he was the best known doctor in the West Country-Look at him now-He hasn't any money and his stockings are full of holes!"
(from The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting)
Which sentence best describes Dr. Dolittle's problem in the passage?