Order Carnivora, Family Mephitida. They used to be classified in Family Mustelidae (weasels), but were moved into their own family, as they are not as closely related to weasels as previously thought.
Civet cats are in Family Viverridae, true cats are in Family Felidae.
So ... they aren't all that closely related. The entry doesn't say which family is "closest".
Lynelle said "FYI, according to El Dorado county animal control and the sheriffs dept. skunks are in the feline family and die of feline distemper."
Skunks are NOT in the feline family. They are related to Civet cats, which may be where someone got the cat--feline from. They could still die of feline distemper, even though they're not felines. Lots of diseases affect other species than their normal host species.
There was also a discussion about skunks as "carriers" of rabies that don't die from it. An animal is not a "carrier" if it gets the disease and then dies from it, it is a carrier if it gets the disease, lives through it, and continues to shed the virus/bacteria. This would be the case in Equine Infectious Anemia, for instance, and it is why a horse that has a positive Coggins test has to be forever isolated from all other horses, because it can shed the virus at any time, even though it doesn't appear sick.
In the case of the skunk, the time without symptoms is the incubation period, not a carrier state. The rabies virus enters the body through a break in the skin, then travels along the nervous system to the brain. When it reaches the brain, the animal has symptoms. The virus is also, at that time but not before, producing the virus in its saliva. Only in the last stages of the disease, when the animal is showing symptoms, can it infect someone if it bites them. Once symptoms develop, the animal is generally dead within a couple of days. That's the basis for the 10-day quarantine for dogs or cats that bite someone. If they were infective at the time of the bite, they'll be dead before the 10 days is up. jeri
