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!

Did a good job with looking after our dog she is back to her old self...
Very friendly, kept everything safe with distancing but still had that personal touch.
What a great team, from initial telephone conversation to my dogs operation - consistency in professionalism and customer experience 10/10. Would highly recommend.Thank you to both Weymouth and Dorchester ❤️
Honest friendly great service and no pressuring sales techniques like some chains locally 👌
Have just registered our new pup here after the passing of our old Spaniel. Staff are friendly and ready to answer any questions. Appointments run to time and good parking outside.
Great friendly Vet Practise. Staff are always knowledgeable, caring and always seem to go the extra mile for our furry friends.
Very friendly and helpful.
Brilliant quick service
Great service for our fur babies. Only charged for necessary treatments. Recommended
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!
Friendly and attentive staff! I know that they have my cat's best interest at heart as much as we do!
Absolutely lovely people. So caring, update you. My Pup loves them all. Have complete confidence leaving my pets with them.
Nice friendly staff and good service, but cost of drugs high
Independent vets surgery. Brilliant vets. Wouldn't take our dogs anywhere else.
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.
Most caring vets I have ever known...my boy was seriously ill and I couldnt have asked for better care for him...unfortunately he lost the fight but not without vets pulling out all the stops to save him....they let me visit and stay with him for hours while he was still here and after
Empathetic service from all staff members, especially date Suzanna
Recommended so highly, this place and its staff are all amazing!
Castle vets are the best local vets. we have used them since 2014 for our chihuahuas who have kept them safe and well.the receptionist team and the vets are fantastic plus the nurseswe have been so well looked after over the years.thanks
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 💓
I cannot possibly explain with words how amazing this veterinary clinic is, it was our first time going there and its also the first time I've ever felt just purly listened too and not pushed to do anything I wouldnt be comfortable with for my dog. I feel they genuinely want the best your your animals, to the point where they want to make sure there is an infection before just giving antibiotics, which other vets I've been too would have just prescribed them regardless. I cant express how much this helped me relax, and my dog also enjoyed the experience and got lots of lovely hellos and treats.Truly I feel over the moon that this is our vets!I am feeling so indescribably happy with my experience and I couldnt recommend them enough.
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.
We are Very Happy with the Service, Care and Treatment given to Sydney by Kirsty, Giles and the support team.Highly recommended.
Just wanted to say thank you ALL for looking after Frankie (our dachshund) over the past few days. Glad you quickly diagnosed her bladder stone and operated to sort the problem. Sincerely appreciate everything.
5* service from reception to consultation room.Fern my springer had a tough time for about a week or so and she's now doing great, I cant thank them enough.They kept me reassured at all times and made the whole experience a whole lot easier.Vets arnt shy of a telephone call to help assist from home rather than calling you in to the practice just for the sake of the consultation fees, unlike other vets I've previously used.Reception are really friendly and helpful.Alice and Star are the two names that stood out the most for me, as these guys dealt with me the most but the rest of the team I spoke to are equally as professional and friendly.One happy fern and 8 even happier puppies