Fido? He's in rehab -- for his knee (or is it his elbow?)

They come in with arthritis, back pain, sore elbows. Some are recuperating from car accidents or surgery or just bad judgment (a leap off a balcony). Others are coping with the ravages of old age. The most common problem: a tear of that pesky knee ligament, the ACL. They work out on treadmills, strengthen their core muscles, get their joints manipulated and undergo acupuncture.

They are patients of California Animal Rehabilitation, seeking physical therapy for pain relief and better mobility. They are mostly dogs, but the current clientele includes a few cats and a rabbit that lost its hop.

The clinic, which opened a year and a half ago in Santa Monica, is the brainchild of veterinarian Jessica Waldman, 33, and physical therapist Amy Kramer, 40, who holds a doctorate in her field. Technically, in California, what they do can't be called "physical therapy" -- that's only for humans.

But the big rehab room will look familiar to anyone who's been through a regimen of physical therapy: mats on the floor, colorful medicine balls in jelly bean shapes, meditation music wafting through the sound system.

Of course, other veterinarians in Southern California are doing acupuncture. And there are some area vets doing underwater treadmill work and rehab. But the two founders and owners say their facility is a unique combination of rehabilitation, acupuncture and nutrition counseling all under a vet's supervision.

"There are veterinarians that do acupuncture and there are people who like pets who do swim therapy, but there are no physical therapists that are doing rehab with veterinarians," said Waldman, who, like Kramer, has certification in canine rehabilitation.

"I would agree that what they are doing is unique in California," said veterinarian David Bruyette, medical director of the VCA West Los Angeles Animal Hospital, which engages a chiropractor three days a week. "There are some places in other parts of the country doing this, but there are no other places like this in Los Angeles."

In an era when people pack their dogs off to day care, consult veterinary behaviorists, put cats on Prozac and agree to aggressive surgeries to prolong their pets' lives and limbs, physical rehab may be uncommon. But it's not extraordinary.