Skateboarding cat breaks speed record in China

June 12 (UPI) -- A skateboarding cat showed off his skills in China and earned a Guinness World Record by skateboarding a distance of 32 feet, 9.2 inches in just 12.85 seconds.

Bao Zi, an American shorthair cat, broke the record for the fastest 10 meters on a skateboard by a cat at the age of just 1 year and 8 months old.

Bao Zi's owner, professional dog trainer Li Jiangtao, said his original intention when he brought a cat home was to help with a rodent problem.

"We had mice running around the ceiling at night, so I got Bao Zi to scare them away," he told Guinness World Records.

Jiangtao said he soon realized Bao Zi might have talents beyond mousing.

"I've been training dogs for over a decade, and I started skateboarding with my own dog for fun. But Bao Zi showed a keen interest in skateboards, so I decided to nurture this behavior," Jiangtao said.

He said it took about a year for the feline to master the art of skateboarding.

"Actually, it's quite challenging to train a cat, because they don't learn things as quickly as dogs do," he told the South China Morning Post. "Dogs make improvements day by day and they remember it. As for cats, they can learn a trick, and then forget it the next second."

Jiangtao said his experience teaching Bao Zi led him to expand his business into training cats. His specialty is teaching felines to use pottys -- and flush when they finish.