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!

Honest friendly great service and no pressuring sales techniques like some chains locally 👌
Excellent vets, frendly and helpful staff, highly recommended for all your pets needs.
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 😂!
Castle Vet's lovely. Welcoming! Organized! Knowledgable! And friendly!
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!
Got an appointment fairly easily for my pet, but only annoyance is that you can't go in with your pet due to Covid! Could if owner went in instead of staff. Their excuse is not enough room to social distance. But they're very good with animals and explain everything. I'd be happy to wear gloves, etc to be able to stay with them
Had to say goodbye to our friend and the service we received from all staff , from reception to Giles was amazing.Thank you
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!
Always friendly and try to ensure you and your pet are looked after.
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.
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.
Been going there for more than 20 years with various cats. Wouldn't go anywhere else. They are brilliant
Very friendly. Great vets and nurses.
Great staff, vet was friendly and took his time to explain everything in terms we could understand
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
Our cat has used this place for a good couple of years. He hates it. I don't think that's a reflection on the quality of service, he just doesn't like being checked over. The staff have been lovely. I think their charges are reasonable. I'm sure the cat will continue to use them all of his medical needs.
Truly caring fantastic vets, my wife and I can't thank and praise them enough, very highly recommended to any animal lover, well done all at Castle vets.
They are amazing and really care about our pets!
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 ❤️
Very pleased with treatment our cat received very kind would recommend this practice to anybody
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.
Highly recommend, We've used this clinic for over 10 years and wouldn't go anywhere else.
Fast and efficient service, friendly.
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.
Can not put into words our thanks for saving kayaks (our Siberian husky) life, removed a 5kg tumour.Giles and team were fantastic all of you! Thanks