Simba realized that his struggling wasn't helping him to loosen his leg and just  as he accepted that he would most likely drown. Seconds after the last bit of air still in his lungs left him he was blinded by a bright light and passed out. When he came to the fist thing he noticed was that could breathe again and that he was out of the water.

His internal celebration about his presumed rescue lasted up to the point he opened his eyes and noticed [url=http://www.businessinsider.com/pictures-of-how-cats-see-the-world-2013-10?IR=T]that everything looked blurry and the colors looked odd[/url]. His first thought was that he might have suffered minor brain damage, but he soon realized his situation was a lot weirder when he tried to get up.

His arms and legs didn't seem to want to do what he wanted and his tail kept getting in the way. [i]"...Wait a sec, tail?![/i] Looking over his body he quickly realized he had been turned into some kind of oversized cat. 

"Well it could be worse, at least I'm not a fish or anything." Despite his lame joke anyone with experience with cats could tell from his body language that he wasn't as calm as he tried to appear. His ears were  pressed back and down to the point that they were more or less flat against his head and his tail was tucked in between his legs and close to his body.