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!

Such a good vet. Been with them for years for both my dogs. Trust them implicitly.
Exceptional Veterinary Practice.Although I have been a client for many years, my dog Jack seldom needs care. Recently however he was suffering a gland problem.. Jack is an imported rescue and the BVA recommend a safeguarding procedure (blood test) prior to any surgery in such cases due to possible Brucellosis infection. I was uncertain of the benefits, but was able to have a practical and sensible discussion with Giles, beforehand Jack had the procedure under sedation & Giles whipped out a loose back tooth too. Jack is not insured, but I was given an estimate of cost at our initial consultation which matched our final invoice. Thank you Giles, it seems to have done the trick and Jack has forgiven you (almost!)
Fast and efficient service, friendly.
An excellent vets in Poundbury that we bring our cat too. The vets and staff are brilliant always a smile and a greeting whenever you visit. We now know why there is a queue waiting to register their pets.
Good cat friendly service. Able to go in with my cats. Would recommend on my experience so far.
Private practice so helpful and very careing. Piece of mind.
Just picking up flea treatment for our 7 month old kittens. But very friendly and willing to chat and show interest in what happened to our cat who died, which I appreciated.
Very professional vets. Treated my dog with great kindness and compassion on his final visit. Thank you
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
Very good vets and brilliant staff
Castle Vets took care of our dog for many years, and were incredibly kind and helpful when she reached the end of her life.
They saved my boys life when he broke his leg the other day. And now I can hold onto my purring best friend for hopefully much longer. Amazing team. Thank you 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
Very good place. They seem to be good value.
1st consultation appointment with Eva this evening and can not thank her enough , she was so welcoming to us as a family had already read through missys notes which the past vets hadn't, and gave us more advise and information on an eye issue missy is currently going through than the last 4 vets we have seen. The receptionist were all lively and welcoming and had bloods taken expecting them to be back tomo and recieved a call 15 mins after leaving with the results, can not fault any part of our appointment. Thank you so much 💓
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.
Very friendly. Great vets and nurses.
Lovely people friendly service
Brilliant vets
Good care of our animals
So caring and efficient, cannot praise the whole team enough for how well they looked after our cat, and us.
So good. So professional. Lovely service. Very happy.
The team have always been excellent with our late cat Sammy over the 18 years of his life, thank you for everything
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.
Have always been brilliant with our girls even 3am in the morning when I'm panicking