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!

Still an independent practice with real affordable prices
Caring, reliable veterinary practice. Very pleasant staff, well equipped surgery, cat- friendly waiting area. Recommended.
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!
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.
Best local vets imo brilliant with my nervous mastiff x
Very pleased with treatment our cat received very kind would recommend this practice to anybody
Wouldn’t take my cat anywhere else. Caring and professional. Not sure Moo would agree!
Totally professional and compassionate vets made a very hard time easier with their support with our tess
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.
Private practice so helpful and very careing. Piece of mind.
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.
Always has the pets' best interest at heart, rather than the profit driven experience I've had at other multi national owned vetinary surgeries. Good common sense approach, kind and caring.
So caring and efficient, cannot praise the whole team enough for how well they looked after our cat, and us.
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
Only used the vets once, it was very well organised for corona restrictions.
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.
Communicated and were responsive, not used their services with a visit yet...
Absolutely the best. Looked after our best boy Jake for nearly 14 years and were always kind, compassionate and supportive. All round lovely team of people.
I would recommend this veterinary practice to anyone . They genuinely care about the animals (our babies) over charging extortionate amounts for treatments and extra services that you don't need ! From the lovely receptionist to all of the other amazing staff the care you and your animals are given is five star absolutely !! The vets actually get down on the floor with your pets and are so friendly and minimally clinical.
Lovely, Caring and Realistically priced.
My Nelly has had a few issues and had to have an emergency op due to eating a fish hook! She was referred by Castle to a vet hospital and it was arranged very quickly. I can't fault the team at both Dorchester Road and Poundbury at all. Reasonably priced in vet terms I think and I would highly recommend.
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.
Great Veterinary Practice. Staff all very welcoming. Would definitely recommend anyone to take their Loved Pets here 🐾💖🐾
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
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