How to set cell to certain value depending on two data validation dropdowns

ive reached the end of my rope. this is a project for a college engineering class and basically needs to be as "pretty" and as user friendly as possible.
so heres the scenario.

i have 2 data validation dropdown lists. the first one is loaded with lets say animals: dogs, cats, birds.
the second list is loaded with all subcategories of that, allowing for a combination selection if you will... (labs, yorkies, poodles, siamese, tabby, blue jay, robin, crow, etc.)

counting it up theres more than 64 combination which i hear is the limit for nested statements for a particular cell.

but what i need is when the user selects a combination like (dog,lab) or (cat,tabby) for a single cell to generate a code, (D-LAB) or (C-TAB)... this code will be used for an index lookup to change the picture located below the two validation lists to what its supposed to be. (lab or tabby etc)

i finally figured out the pic lookup but i can not for the life of me figure out how to set up outcomes for my very large lists...

and heres the kicker. i cant use macros or VB. as in not allowed.
any help is GREATLY appreciated.

Generating a unique code should be easy enough using concatenation... Assuming that animal is in cell A1 and breed is in cell B1 then the formula to generate a unique code could be = A1 & " : " & B1..
Your next problem then is to generate a list of all possible permutations of codes... Without VBA, I think you'll have to do it manually ...

Thank you for the replies.

Perhaps I have simplified my situation a little more than I should have.

There are some values in dropdown2 that are "repeated" as in can be combined with more than one selection from dropdown1. [(Dog tabby) is a possibility]

I wish it was as easy as concatenation, and that may very well be what I need to do to get the codes to be created.

My problem still persists where I need one cell to handle the codes thrown at it to be used for the index lookup I have structured for my images.

To test my image look up I have it basically structured like this:

=if(and(dropdown1="dog",dropdown2="poodle"),codeCreateCell="d-pood",if(and(dropdown1="dog",dropdown2="tabby"),codeCreateCell="d-tab".))

And it works. But that just covers 2 pictures. I have 31 pictures to display for any given arrangement.

Sorry to have been unclear before. I really appreciate all the helpful ideas.

alright, thanks for the heads up.

i'll be on for a good while if theres any questions about it.

Forgive me for killing the joke, im just a bit confused. How do you mean vet?

lol oh gotcha.

tried to click on the attachement: this is what i received:

"Invalid Attachment specified. If you followed a valid link, please notify the administrator"

Possibly needs to be reuploaded?

Thanks again.

I feel like a moron.

I ended up making a table on a new sheet with the possibilites of dropdown1 in column A and all the possibilites of dropdown2 in row 1, then filled in all the cross values with the code... then index and match.

they need to add a *FACEPALM* emoticon.... sorry guys i appreciate all the help anyways.

and Andy, you da man.

thanks again.