Frequently Asked Questions

ULTRA PLUS is a Pet Accident Benefit program open to all Ultra Pet food customers. It is owned by RCL foods, who is the owner of the Ultra Dog & Ultra Cat brands.

If you register as an ULTRA PLUS member, you qualify to benefit from our Pet Accident Benefit Program. You will be protected against those unexpected veterinary expenses when your cat or dog is accidentally injured.

We provide you with this benefit at no cost to you, but you will only receive this benefit as long as you remain an ULTRA PLUS member as explained in this document. It’s important to note that this is not an insurance policy where you are the policyholder.

You qualify as an Ultra Plus member by activating your membership on the Ultra Pet website, purchasing our pet food and uploading your proof of purchase monthly.

ULTRA PLUS is NOT a pet medical aid insurance policy. It is a benefit for accidental injuries only.

How is an ‘accident’ defined in the benefit program? 

ULTRA PLUS offers a benefit for accidental injuries sustained by domestic dogs and cats

An accidental injury is caused by an unforeseen and unintended event that results in physical harm to your cat or dog. Below is a list of typical accidental injuries sustained by pets.

• Motor vehicle accidents
• Burns or electrocutions
• Accidental poisoning
• The actions of another animal (e.g. dog fights)
• Surgical or endoscopic removal of foreign object
• Snake bites
• Allergic reactions to insect bites (except tick & fleas)
• Fractures (broken bones)
• Traumatic ligament or tendon injuries
• Lacerations, abrasions or wounds

Only domestic cats and dogs can benefit under our program, as long as:

• You registered as an ULTRA PLUS member 
• You register your pet on the Ultra Pet website and with the ULTRA PLUS program
• Your pet is at least eight weeks old at your benefit start date.
• You own the pet and you are responsible for their day-to-day wellbeing.
• Your pet resides at your physical address.
• Your cat is not used for laboratory testing or experimentation.
• Your dog is not used for any of the following:
  • Racing, as a police or guard dog, search & rescue dog, customs dog or quarantine dog.
  • Laboratory testing or experimentation.
  • Commercial breeding.

This benefit is only for accidental injuries. ULTRA PLUS does not cover the following:

• Dishonest, fraudulent or deliberate acts committed by you or members of your household. 
• Delay in the treatment of your injured pet which can lead to further injury and complications.
• Treatment of illnesses such as diabetes and cancer.
• Routine care such as dentals and vaccinations.
• Ambulance fees and any other transport fees.
• Treatment of any pregnancy and related conditions.
• Voluntary euthanasia, burial or cremation.
• Any treatments after the date that your membership of ULTRA PLUS has ended.
• Veterinary expenses for a pet that is not registered on the ULTRA PLUS Program.
• Veterinary expenses covered by any other insurance policy, or if another person agrees to cover your veterinary expenses in the instance where that person’s animal was responsible for your pet’s injuries.

You can join via our website or by downloading our Progressive Web Application (PWA) to your mobile device. 

Please note, our PWA works best with all modern browsers like Google Chrome for Android and Safari for APPLE (also Edge & Firefox). It does not support legacy browsers like Internet Explorer 11.

For iPhone users:

1. Go to your ULTRA PLUS dashboard.
2. Once in the dashboard, tap on the share icon on the bottom toolbar of your browser
3. A menu will appear, scroll down and click ‘Add to Home screen’
4. ULTRA PLUS icon will then be saved to your phone’s desktop

For Android users:

1. Go to your dashboard
2. A pop up will appear asking if you want to add ULTRA PLUS to your home screen
3. Click on this pop up
4. Add to Home Screen

Our new application is a Progressive Web APP. A Progressive Web App is a web app that uses modern web capabilities to deliver an app-like experience to users. It basically means that we now control the ULTRA PET APP in-house and don’t rely on any mobile store to host our application. We therefore control any updates that need to be made to the APP which can then be sent to you very quickly. So it’s a much better, safer, faster and convenient way to manage an ‘APP’.

It’s completely FREE to the pet parent as no premiums are payable by the ULTRA PLUS member.

• Should your pet hurt themselves in an accident (as defined in the Member Brochure), ULTRA PLUS will reimburse a portion of your veterinary bill after deducting an amount of R200 and up to the respective limits as explained below
• You can then rather focus your full attention on getting your furry friends back to their playful best.

To become a new ULTRA PLUS member and enjoy the benefit you must follow these easy steps:  

1. If you are using a desktop PC, simply go to https://ultra-pet.co.za/ultra-plus/ or if you are using your mobile device, go to the same website from your phone’s browser but don’t forget to save the website to your home screen so you can enjoy the full PWA experience.  
2. Register your details on our website or on the PWA. 
3. Register your pet’s details. If you have more than one pet, then you must register each pet in order to enjoy the benefit for each pet.
4. Upload your monthly Ultra Pet Food purchases and include the relevant proof of purchase (refer to the proof of purchase section for more details )
5. After the waiting period, your pets will  receive the benefit under our ULTRA PLUS Program, provided you continue to purchase Ultra Pet Food  and upload your purchases every month (even if you don’t buy every month, you still need to upload your previous proof of purchase as explained under the ‘Additional Food Purchase Questions’ section )

It’s that easy 😊

You qualify as an ULTRA PLUS member by virtue of purchasing our Ultra Pet foods. However, you still need to activate your membership on the website by registering your details and those of your pet as well as uploading your monthly proof of your purchase.

It’s all about knowing that if you are an active ULTRA PLUS member and your furry friend is injured in an accident that you can relax knowing that ULTRA PLUS will ease the financial burden of these stressful occurrences. Active ULTRA PLUS members can submit a claim for assessment and ULTRA PLUS may reimburse a portion or all of the final vet bill ( dependent on the amount of the vet invoice and the sub-brand of Ultra Pet food you buy ).

We reward our pet parents with financial peace of mind. 

You will receive a refund of your veterinary expenses for the treatment of accidental injuries for all the registered pets in your household. There is an annual limit of R10 000 (incl. VAT) per  benefit year from which an amount of R200 will be deducted every time you claim.

There is also a maximum amount per claim which depends on the food which you buy as shown in the table below.

If you change pet food within the Ultra Pet range as at any time, the benefit and resulting limit that apply to that pet food will only apply from the following month.

If you purchase two different kinds of pet food in the same month, then the claim limit that applies to the superior pet food will be used for the following month.

Your benefit year: Your benefit year is the 12-month period starting on the 1st of the month following the month in which you registered as an ULTRA PLUS member, and any subsequent 12-month period while you remain an ULTRA PLUS member. Your benefit year is used to determine when your annual limit expires and starts again.

The R200 deductible: You are responsible for R200 on every claim. This means that the R10 000 annual limit will be reduced every time the R200 is deducted from your refund.

Should you change foods within our range at any time, the benefit for that product will only start the following month. For example:

• If you purchase Optiwoof every month then your benefit will be for Optiwoof. 
• If you then change over to Superwoof on 8 May, then your benefit for Superwoof will only start on 1 June. 
• However, your benefit for May under Optiwoof will still be available provided you upload your monthly proof of purchase.

You do not immediately gain benefits through merely purchasing our products. You must complete the below steps and consistently log your purchases to stay an active member.

To be an active member of the program you have to simply:

• register your and your pet’s details on our website or the PWA (if using your phone)
• buy Ultra Pet Food 
• keep logging your proof of purchases every month to remain covered for the following month

Yes there is a waiting period for all new pets. Your pet’s benefit period only starts on the 1^st of the month following the date that you upload your proof of purchase. 

However, if you miss a month your pet’s benefit period will end and you need to start the Ultra Pet Food journey again to get back on ULTRA PLUS. You will then need to buy Ultra Pet Food and capture your purchase once more. You will, unfortunately, fall into the waiting period again, depending on when you captured your purchase.

For example, whether you upload your proof of purchase on 5 May or 28 May, your benefit only starts on 1 June in both instances.

If you are already an active member and get a new pet, then the new pet’s benefit only starts on the 1^st of the month following the date that you upload your proof of purchase and register your pet’s details. 

All we require from you is a valid proof of purchase to be uploaded during the course of every month in order for your pet/s to receive the benefit for the next month. 

You need to upload a proof of purchase each month for per cat and dog in order for your cats and dogs to continue receiving the benefit. 

For example:

• Upload the Ultra Dog food proof of purchase each month to continue the benefit for your dog/s. 
• Upload the Ultra Cat food proof of purchase each month to continue the benefit for your cat/s.

It’s super simple!

On your dashboard you can check every pet’s status in the calendar as follows:

• Purple: Your pet is in a waiting period. The day after your waiting period ends, the month will change color to determine your pet’s new status as per the definitions below.
• Green: Your pet’s benefit is active 
• Red: Your Pet’s benefit is not active and you need to start the Ultra Pet Food journey again to get that pet back on ULTRA PLUS. You will then need to buy Ultra Pet Food and capture your purchase once more. You will, unfortunately, fall into the waiting period again, depending on when you captured your purchase.
• Grey: All months in grey are in the future and therefore your pet’s status is not yet determined for those months. 

Unfortunately, if your pet is in red at the time of the accident, then your pet will not receive the benefit for any pet accident-related claims through ULTRA PE

This is a system requirement that is used to verify your purchase. It is an important part of the process and should you make a claim, your proof of purchase and purchase history will be checked to determine the claim validity.

You must check that the picture of your till slip is clear and legible. The picture must be of suitable quality so that the following information is clearly visible:

• • Date of purchase
  • Description of the kind of food. For example Superwoof or Optiwoof etc.
  • The veterinary practice or vet shop that you purchased the dog or cat food from.

If your proof of purchase is not legible, it will not be acceptable to maintain your membership of the program and your claim might be affected if you cannot provide clear proof of purchase.

Capture your proof of payment (unique code) that you can find inside the inner front panel of your bag or check that the picture of your till slip is clear and legible.

The picture must be of suitable quality so that the following information is clearly visible:

• Date of purchase.
• Description of the kind of food (for example, Superwoof or Optiwoof etc).
• The veterinary practice or vet shop that you purchased the food from.
• If you are using the unique code from your cat or dog food bag, please enter the correct number.
• If your proof of purchase is not legible (till slip or bag code), it will not be acceptable to maintain your membership of the program and your claim might be affected if you cannot provide clear proof of purchase.

Ideally, your till receipt is first prize. However, we are aware of some vets that are not issuing these or they are misplaced.

We now have a new unique code that you can find inside the inner front panel of your bag.

If you do not have a unique code and you are unable to upload a till slip, please tick the applicable area during upload to advise us that your proof of purchase is one of the following alternatives:

• A snip of your online banking statement showing your payment to the vet
• You will need to inform us which sub-brand of Ultra Pet Food you have purchased so that we can make a note on your profile. This responsibility is on you to notify us, by email, to support@ultra-pet.co.za

OR

• A picture of the bag including the manufacturing date or best-before date
• In the event of a claim, failure to do so may result in your claim being rejected.
• If you are uncertain if you have uploaded an acceptable proof of purchase, you can contact us at support@ultra-pet.co.za

Please note, not all Ultra Pet bags may contain the unique code printed inside the bag, as our new packaging is being phased in. If you do not have a unique code in your bag, please upload your till slip as your proof of purchase within the current calendar month.  There is a grace period of one week into the new month.

Please upload your proof of purchase every month to receive the benefit for the following month. You can do so at any time during the month and there is a grace period of one week into the new month.

Failing to do so will result in no benefit being available for the following month.

• We realise that this is a normal pet ownership practice and we have catered for this by allowing you to upload the same receipt as proof of purchase if you enter a new month and still don’t need to buy food during that month. 
• You are only permitted to use the same proof of purchase for a max of 2 x months in a row
• If you wish you upload your proof of purchase a third time this needs to be approved in writing and you will need to contact support@ultra-pet.co.za for this approval. 
• Failure to get the required approval may result in your claim being rejected.
• The responsibility is on the pet owner to manage their food purchases and proof of purchase uploads effectively.

You only need to load up one purchase to be covered for the next month. If you buy another bag close to the end of that same month that you wish to use for uploading in the new month, then please drop us an email at support@ultra-pet.co.za so we can assist you with this.

We believe that our food is so good and contains all the nutrition that your pet needs that no additional food supplementation is required. However, we are aware that feeding your pet additional ‘human food’ happens from time to time. We would love it if you would just tick this option upon registration and we will make note of this on your user profile for our records.

Your relevant pet will receive the benefit for the highest cover of the purchased Ultra Pet product, provided their benefit is active at the time. 

• You must notify us of a claim by sending a completed claim form, detailed invoice and proof of payment to claims@ultra-pet.co.za no later than 60 days after the treatment date.
• The claim form is available on our website and must be signed by you and your vet.

1. A completed claim form signed by you and your vet
2. A detailed invoice from your vet
3. Proof of payment that was made to the vet i.e. credit card slip, EFT confirmation etc.
4. Claims must be submitted and received within 60 (sixty)  days of the veterinary treatment

Your vet should be aware of ULTRA PLUS and its benefits to you and your pet. The vet’s only involvement is to:

• Assist you with a report and to fill in & sign a part of the claim form. This report will have information on the type of accident that occurred and a description of your pet’s injuries. 
• Give you an invoice. 
• Give you a proof of payment.

Both of these documents need to be submitted with your claim form. 

Please note that you must settle the full Vet invoice directly with your Vet and if you have a valid claim, ULTRA PLUS will reimburse you the applicable portion directly. ULTRA PLUS will never make payment directly to a vet.

Please visit https://ultra-pet.co.za/ultra-plus/ for more information about ULTRA PLUS or drop us a line at support@ultra-pet.co.za