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!

Used this vet for many years and I would not want to go anywhere else, they looked after my little girl (cat) a year or so ago and they were amazing at such a hard time in my life, I was able to stay with my cat as I said goodbye. They aways do the best for my cats. Very understanding and kind. Would highly recommend.
Excellent service. Vets obviously love the animals and deliver the best care.
I can safely say this is the best vets ive taken my dog too, and ive tried them all. Fantastic staff, the vet doesn't make you feel rushed and explains things in detail to make sure you know what choices of treatment your pet has. 100% recommend this vets for your fur babies.
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
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
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
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.
Anyone who looks after my kittens needs to be knighted
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.
Just started taking our kitten Nimbus to this vets recently, vet instantly told us hes actually a boy 😂 Extremely friendly vet and reception staff so thankful we chose such a friendly vet. Only thing to mention is theyve got his name on file wrong as Nimba we learnt when i got an email for the cat plan 😂!
As usual, excellent service. Little waiting around and dog untraumatised. Best vet I've ever had.
Always a friendly welcome at the surgery and helpful, professional advice.
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.
Still an independent practice with real affordable prices
The best thing I could have done is move our dogs to the care of Castle Veterinary Clinic. They have just recently helped diagnose one of our dogs with a life threatening cancer. She is now cancer free and under the continued care of this wonderful practice. As soon as you walk in you are greeted by the most friendly staff. I am confident in knowing we are with the right professionals.
So caring and efficient, cannot praise the whole team enough for how well they looked after our cat, and us.
So lovely and helpful. Couldn't recommend them more!
Very good place. They seem to be good value.
Great Veterinary Practice. Staff all very welcoming. Would definitely recommend anyone to take their Loved Pets here 🐾💖🐾
Very friendly. Great vets and nurses.
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.
Castle Vet's lovely. Welcoming! Organized! Knowledgable! And friendly!
Kind, friendly and very thorough - certainly the best vets I have been to with my cats.
Independent vets surgery. Brilliant vets. Wouldn't take our dogs anywhere else.
Would be nice if a bench was provided in the car park to sit on. As our appointment was running late and we weren't in a car because Maisie Pearce doesn't like getting in cars. Staff were excellent though.