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!

Independent vets surgery. Brilliant vets. Wouldn't take our dogs anywhere else.
I wanted to thank you for your incredibly responsive out-of-hours service yesterday. It very likely saved my dog's life. Your quick action prevented a serious and potentially life-threatening deterioration in his condition. Casper has been a patient since he was a puppy, and we've always received outstanding care. Thank you so much.
Very friendly team who always make sure that your furry bestie is happy and healthy
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 😂!
Only used the vets once, it was very well organised for corona restrictions.
Very good place. They seem to be good value.
I stopped to pick up a wounded hedgehog this morning from the road in Charminster and drove it strait to Castle Vets being the nearest and near where I work.Having never been there before and walking in with this little hedgehog in a bad state the lady I dealt with, Amanda, was so kind, friendly and empathetic.She immediately took him to a nurse to be looked at and took my details to keep me informed as to his condition which she did later that morning.I am so grateful and impressed.Thank you Amanda and Castle Vets team!
Such a good vet. Been with them for years for both my dogs. Trust them implicitly.
Wouldn’t take my cat anywhere else. Caring and professional. Not sure Moo would agree!
Private practice so helpful and very careing. Piece of mind.
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.
Great Veterinary Practice. Staff all very welcoming. Would definitely recommend anyone to take their Loved Pets here 🐾💖🐾
Empathetic service from all staff members, especially date Suzanna
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.
Kind friendly staff. Clean and well equipped. Good vets who care for their patients!
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
Fantastic vets, caring, welcoming, knowledgeable and friendly. Take both my cats here and would highly recommend.
I've got a puppy who needed his vaccination, they responded very quickly
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.
Wonderful vets and staff, kind and professional.
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
These vets are the best I have used. All of the vets and staff are so friendly, caring and compassionate. We recently had to have our handsome boy put to sleep our dog and ourselves could not have been in better hands.A big thank you to all of you for everything.
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.
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.
Thank you Castle Vets. My dog had a half-yearly checkup today. The vet has just called me with the results of a blood test for a potential issue identified in the routine assessment. I'm impressed at the scrutiny, turnaround in the labwork, and the follow-up.