That's Senior Research Officer "SupersuMC" to you! Here's hoping I become a ringtail - hopefully anthropomorphic, though I wouldn't mind being an intelligent feral.

Being an intelligent feral is an interesting concept;
On the one hand, it would probably be really fun at first if you knew what was happening and wanted it, but on the other hand not having thumbs would probably be really inconvenient in most situations, to the point where being a feral could be classified as a disability. That said, there are much worse disabilities to have, so everything should be kept in perspective.
Like most things to do with transformation, what it would actually be like depends heavily on the circumstances surrounding it and the exact details of the scenario...