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!

Lovely kind staff. Great facilities.
They are really good vets! They look after my dog and he even likes going to see them
So lovely and helpful. Couldn't recommend them more!
Wouldn’t take my cat anywhere else. Caring and professional. Not sure Moo would agree!
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.
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
Did a good job with looking after our dog she is back to her old self...
Really caring and honest vets. Feel really confident taking our animals there.
Independent vets surgery. Brilliant vets. Wouldn't take our dogs anywhere else.
I have been using Castle Vets for many years. I've always had excellent service from kind, thoughtful and highly trained staff. My dogs love trips to the vets.
Helped us recapture cat when basket broke open outside!
Very professional vets. Treated my dog with great kindness and compassion on his final visit. Thank you
Great friendly Vet Practise. Staff are always knowledgeable, caring and always seem to go the extra mile for our furry friends.
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.
Saw us at very short notice before closing and gave very friendly and helpful service, reasonable price and would definitely recommend.
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.
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.
Caring, reliable veterinary practice. Very pleasant staff, well equipped surgery, cat- friendly waiting area. Recommended.
Very good vets and brilliant staff
I am so impressed with this Vets. Giles was particularly helpful, calm and patient with our many questions regarding our new dog. He was informative, kind and seemed to genuinely have the time of day (which from past experience is rare). The reception staff were courteous and helpful and we signed up for their monthly plan which started straight away with flea and worm treatment included. We are really happy customers and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Castle Vets to any other pet owner. Thank you!
All our cats are registered here. Compared to two other veterinarians in Dorchester, we find these the best. A little bit more expensive, but they do have our full confidence.
Best local vets imo brilliant with my nervous mastiff x
Recommended so highly, this place and its staff are all amazing!
Thank you Giles and staff for your compassion and care of my baby girl Rosie such a sad time with such a hard decision to make but Giles gave me time to say goodbye to my bestest girl for the last 15 years. Thank you so much