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!

Brilliant vets ,competitive pricing and staff are fabulous!
I cannot possibly explain with words how amazing this veterinary clinic is, it was our first time going there and its also the first time I've ever felt just purly listened too and not pushed to do anything I wouldnt be comfortable with for my dog. I feel they genuinely want the best your your animals, to the point where they want to make sure there is an infection before just giving antibiotics, which other vets I've been too would have just prescribed them regardless. I cant express how much this helped me relax, and my dog also enjoyed the experience and got lots of lovely hellos and treats.Truly I feel over the moon that this is our vets!I am feeling so indescribably happy with my experience and I couldnt recommend them enough.
Top Vet - very caring very friendly very helpful. Wouldn't go anywhere else
I've got a puppy who needed his vaccination, they responded very quickly
Lovely vets,so friendly. Nothing too much trouble.
Always there when you need them and all the staff are wonderful with the animals and their people , I couldn't ask for a better vet practice. P. S. Please include Broadway practice with this comment x
Private practice so helpful and very careing. Piece of mind.
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.
1st class. Friendly understanding staff, who are genuinely concerned for welfare of all the animals they see.
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.
As usual, excellent service. Little waiting around and dog untraumatised. Best vet I've ever had.
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
Great service with very experienced staff. Always greeted with a friendly smile.
Exceptional Veterinary Practice.Although I have been a client for many years, my dog Jack seldom needs care. Recently however he was suffering a gland problem.. Jack is an imported rescue and the BVA recommend a safeguarding procedure (blood test) prior to any surgery in such cases due to possible Brucellosis infection. I was uncertain of the benefits, but was able to have a practical and sensible discussion with Giles, beforehand Jack had the procedure under sedation & Giles whipped out a loose back tooth too. Jack is not insured, but I was given an estimate of cost at our initial consultation which matched our final invoice. Thank you Giles, it seems to have done the trick and Jack has forgiven you (almost!)
Really good vets, gave thorough examination of my vizsla and put us at ease, thank you
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
They are amazing and really care about our pets!
Such wonderful professional service.Very sympathetic towards me and my dog when I had to let her go.All staff included especially when I had ring and book my dog on, thank you.
The team have always been excellent with our late cat Sammy over the 18 years of his life, thank you for everything
Great staff, vet was friendly and took his time to explain everything in terms we could understand
Empathetic service from all staff members, especially date Suzanna
Very friendly. Great vets and nurses.
Fantastic friendly service. Vet, we saw Kirsty, was informative and explained problem well. Very well covid organised so felt very safe. Thank you
Lovely people friendly service
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