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!

Fantastic vets who really do care for your pets.They've always been more than happy to help and give advice; and the prices for visits are very good too.
Our vet for 17 years and we’ve always had great service from them. Recommended
Great staff, vet was friendly and took his time to explain everything in terms we could understand
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.
A very caring vet with very helpful staff. I've always managed to get an appointment quickly. Would highly recommend.
Great vets.
Wonderful vets and staff, kind and professional.
Couldn't praise Jeremy enough for how he handled trimming my macaws nails today. Absolutely chuffed to bits! Was very nervous about the whole thing because he can be quite temperamental when it comes to people he doesn't know but left there happy and content. Will definitely see him from now on if I ever need to.
Top Vet - very caring very friendly very helpful. Wouldn't go anywhere else
What an amazing service from the vetinarian, who looked after our dog while on holiday. He was very caring of both the dog and us.If we lived in the area, we would use this practice for all our dogs 🐕Thank you. Well deserved 5stars.
Kind, friendly and very thorough - certainly the best vets I have been to with my cats.
Wouldn’t take my cat anywhere else. Caring and professional. Not sure Moo would agree!
Absolutely outstanding service. All staff wonderful and the vets are incredible. Highly recommend
Lovely vets,so friendly. Nothing too much trouble.
Castle Vet's lovely. Welcoming! Organized! Knowledgable! And friendly!
Special thanks to the vet and nurses for looking after Molly my beloved border collie in her final hours , being with her as she past on was so important , very caring and professional team .
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.
Private practice so helpful and very careing. Piece of mind.
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
I am so happy to have registered my little dog with Castle vets, they have been fantastic with Flo. They really go above and
Very friendly and helpful.
Brilliant vets
We can never thank Castle vets enough for the outstanding care over 10 years for our amazing dog Alfie. As well as all the routine checks, vaccinations and general care, they recognised aged 3 that he would need life changing knee surgery to prolong his life, which would have been shortened considerably had we opted for pain relief only, and which also improved his quality of life. He loved visiting both the Weymouth and Dorchester surgeries and all the staff always welcomed him despite his boisterous greetings which sometimes involved paws on the reception desk and knocking down of displays! When we became concerned that he was seriously ill, they were prompt and sensitive in their investigations and in giving us dreaded news, helping us to digest the implications for Alfie. This meant that we made the right decisions for him and he had a good last week of life with a final walk on the beach, a final visit to his favourite dog friendly pub (the Springhead at Sutton Poyntz and the last thing he actually ate - some carvery pork) - and time at home resting on the sofa, going down the garden, or sitting outside sniffing the air. When we saw a deterioration which signalled that he was uncomfortable, we called the vets and within 40 minutes, despite being nearly midnight, Kirsty the vet and Roxy, veterinary nurse, arrived at our house and made sure that Alfie's death was a calm, peaceful and dignified one. They must have been tired, but they sat on the floor with us all reminiscing about him, stroking him, talking to him and crying and only left, over an hour later, when we were ready. Alfie loved Castle vets and we do too.
Great service with very experienced staff. Always greeted with a friendly smile.
Caring, reliable veterinary practice. Very pleasant staff, well equipped surgery, cat- friendly waiting area. Recommended.