Your local, independent, trusted vet - Castle Vets (Dorchester) Skip to content

About us

Your local independent and trusted vet

Our practice was founded by Rip Kirby in 1992 with the ethos of being a friendly and approachable place to bring your pet. We are still committed to this, whilst providing the best possible care and treatment for all your pets. The practice remains independently owned by the vets who work in it, the only one in the area now. Being independent ensures the practice employees are motivated only by making pets better, not by keeping shareholders happy.

We have highly trained and experienced staff who will work with you to keep your pet in the best of health. We offer a full range of veterinary services, preventative health care, consultations, in-house diagnostic testing, imaging, and surgery. We have also partnered with Virtual Veterinary Specialists to ensure almost every problem imaginable can be dealt with right here at Castle Vets. We also offer a monthly budgeting plan and provide our own out of hours care to all our registered patients.

Many clients have been with us years and we consider them old friends, but we are always happy to welcome new faces, paws, tails and whiskers! Please do not hesitate to contact us about any matter big or small.

Reviews

Meet just a few of our happy owners and their pets!

Took my cat in as an emergency as she had suspected eaten a poisoned mouse and seemed really unwell. The vet gave me two options but advised me on the cheaper one being that it was pretty obvious what she had done. He gave her an injection and a few days later she was back to normal. Prices are very reasonable and the desk staff were very pleasant and helpful.
We have had 2 late night accidents resulting in an off duty call and requiring subsequent surgical procedures each time. All of the staff were so reassuring and looked after our dogs with such care. One of our dogs, Izzy had to return for dressing changes once every few days. The care she received was in my opinion better than in any human hospital, using a mixture of modern and natural techniques. The bill was amazingly reasonable too. Thank you all so much
Can not put into words our thanks for saving kayaks (our Siberian husky) life, removed a 5kg tumour.Giles and team were fantastic all of you! Thanks
A good professional service
5*’s. highly recommend them, a great team of caring professions from the reception team to the nurses and the vets...Can’t fault them. They still look after my geriatric rabbit who is still going strong thanks to their ongoing care and treatment
I have recently changed vets and I'm happy to recommend the excellent compassionate and thoughtful service my pets have received. From the lovely caring receptionists to equally caring and competent vets I am most impressed. I initially thought that this particular veterinary practice would be expensive but have discovered that the prices have been very reasonable and compare favourably. Thank you Ellie, Lucy and Kelly, you are doing a great job!
Great service for our fur babies. Only charged for necessary treatments. Recommended
Absolutely the best. Looked after our best boy Jake for nearly 14 years and were always kind, compassionate and supportive. All round lovely team of people.
Amazing vets always been there for my animals especially Gill always try to have her for my fury friends she was excellent when i had to say good bye to my Joe Joe dog and now she takes care of my two I have now. All the vets i have seen have been brilliant keep up the good work team
We have been using this vet practice for about 2 years now. We had three cats when we joined and they have cat surgeries and practioners. I would always take my cats here. I feel listened to and respected. And that the welfare of my cats is important. We recently had to say goodbye to one of our little cats. The care and consideration from the whole practice ( vet Ellie, nurses and reception staff) to us and our special family member was second to none
Thank you Giles and staff for your compassion and care of my baby girl Rosie such a sad time with such a hard decision to make but Giles gave me time to say goodbye to my bestest girl for the last 15 years. Thank you so much
We couldn't have asked for a more professional and caring service from castle vets staff over the last 6 years, looking after our beloved paddy until the very end x thankyou x
Very professional vets have looked after our dog for years always great advice and they talk u through the costs which is helpful. Would recommend these vets to anyone.
Parker can certainly be a bit of a handful at times the staff are always brilliant with him no worries of leaving him there.Always so incredibly friendly and empathetic no matter how big or small a problem. I'm always confident in they're knowledge and wisdom.
Our cat has used this place for a good couple of years. He hates it. I don't think that's a reflection on the quality of service, he just doesn't like being checked over. The staff have been lovely. I think their charges are reasonable. I'm sure the cat will continue to use them all of his medical needs.
Very friendly team who always make sure that your furry bestie is happy and healthy
Yes we have just moved vets to Castle Veterinary Clinic Weymouth and are very happy that we did Buddy our Westie was made so welcome and he was happy with his treatment
Always has the pets' best interest at heart, rather than the profit driven experience I've had at other multi national owned vetinary surgeries. Good common sense approach, kind and caring.
Wonderful! Fitted us in fast when I was concerned about my dog. The reception staff were friendly and welcoming and the vets were gentle, caring and knowledgeable. They also didn't charge a Kings ransom which was a pleasant change from my previous vets who were not independents.
They are amazing and really care about our pets!
Always friendly and helpful, and the dog doesn't mind going there which is a bonus 👍🏻
Always a friendly welcome at the surgery and helpful, professional advice.
Fantastic friendly service. Vet, we saw Kirsty, was informative and explained problem well. Very well covid organised so felt very safe. Thank you
Great service with very experienced staff. Always greeted with a friendly smile.
So lovely and helpful. Couldn't recommend them more!