A yellow-and-white longhair cat named Snookums is at the center of the latest controversy embroiling Patrick County veterinarian and radio firebrand Lock Boyce.

Boyce faced allegations Wednesday before the Virginia Board of Veterinary Medicine that he misdiagnosed the 10-year-old tabby, resulting in her death two days later.

After hours of testimony at the Roanoke hearing, the board deliberated for another hour before fining Boyce $5,000. It also suspended Boyce's veterinary license but gave him a stay, providing he follows conditions of his probation, in addition to providing more X-rays to inspecting agents.

The board hearing was only the most recent altercation for Boyce, a flamboyant man with sandy hair, a drooping mustache and piercing blue eyes.

Boyce opened his animal hospital in 1982 and has since built a loyal clientele of farmers and pet owners. But in December 2003, the vet board put Boyce on probation after it found that two years earlier he misdiagnosed Josie, a dog that had been struck by a car. The board also found that he had been accused of assaulting an employee, had allowed unlicensed technicians to administer controlled drugs to animals and had allowed signs with profane language and sexual innuendo to be posted in his office.

"For 19 years, I had no complaints," Boyce said. "But this has been a nightmare. It's one false charge after another."

Boyce blames his problems on his outspoken manner and willingness to criticize those in power. As the host of local radio station WHEO's "Patrick County Topics," which airs Monday mornings, Boyce has a soapbox for his opinions.

"He takes stances and there have been times he's packed the board of supervisors meeting room when he's pushed an issue one way or the other," said Jamie Clark, who owns WHEO.

David Young, chairman of the Patrick County Board of Supervisors, said Boyce sometimes supports the supervisors but often does not.

"He gives us down the river on some issues, but least he's upfront," Young said.

Boyce has also used the show to air his personal grievances. In the 2003 case in which the vet board placed him on probation, the complainant happened to be a county employee. Boyce said the case was politically motivated and spoke about it at length on his show. He also filed an $800,000 lawsuit alleging the complainant and three other people defamed his name during a veterinary board hearing to damage his business and run him out of town. The judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling that testimony before a state regulatory board cannot furnish the basis for a defamation suit.

Boyce said the motive behind the past and current complaints is to run him out of town.

"There's some very powerful people in Patrick County that want me to leave the county," Boyce said. "Losing my license would be a way to do that, so it's not lost on me."

With the Snookums case, Boyce has been more low-key. Taking the advice of his attorney, he's generally avoided discussing specifics on the radio, aside from mentioning the possibility of losing his license.

During Wednesday's hearing, Boyce and prosecutors agreed on several points. Snookums was brought in for treatment on May 31, 2004, after owner Terry Bullins of Bassett accidentally backed over her with a Ford truck. Boyce examined the cat, taking vital signs and giving Snookums an X-ray. He eventually decided she was stressed, but largely uninjured.

"He said she'd used one of her nine lives," Bullins said.

Boyce sent Snookums home after a series of vaccinations. Terry Bullins and his wife, Vickie, fixed a bed for the cat, but found her in the basement the next morning. They moved her back to her bed, and when Vickie Bullins came home from work later in the day, she found the feline in the same spot. She said she also found blood coming from the cat's rectum.

This is where the accounts of the Bullinses and Boyce diverge.

Vickie Bullins testified that on June 1 she brought Snookums back to the vet, where Boyce performed a brief inspection before again sending her home without treatment.

However, Boyce said he was not in the office when Vickie Bullins said she returned with Snookums. Instead, he said he left the office early and he and his wife went to Fairystone State Park for the afternoon.

The next morning, June 2, Vickie Bullins said she woke up to find Snookums dead. A few days later she filed the complaint against Boyce on the vet board's Internet site.

When an investigator contacted Boyce in September about the complaint, the vet called the Bullinses and offered them a new cat and free care for life. Boyce said he was just trying to make amends. The Bullinses took it as a bribery attempt.

With Wednesday's ruling, Boyce will be able to continue practicing veterinary medicine, though he's still on probation. Another complaint will likely result in the loss of his license forever.