Need data cross-referenced in multiple tables: VLOOKUP vs. Match vs. Index

I've got a sheet whose structure isn't the best, but that I c can't change without causing ripples that break lots of other stuff. In one area, several items from various categories are listed, and I need to sort those out and use their locations in another page to get some descriptive data. Unfortunately, the categories the objects fall in aren't defined in a central spot.

For example, if the data is

Animals

  Type       Name
  Dog        Fido
  Dog        Spot
  Cat        Sprinkles
  Cat        Tom
  Dog        Spike
  Horse      Mr. Ed
  Mammal     Bossie
  Horse      Flicka
  Mammal     Top Cat
  Mammal     Squeakers

It wouldn't be a problem except for those pesky mammals, which are defined in another sheet as being cats, dogs, or horses. For instance:

Name          Type     Color   Etc.
Fido          Dog      Brown
Spot          Dog      white
Sprinkles     Cat      Blue
Tom           Cat      Grey
Spike         Dog      Grey
Mr. Ed        Horse    Brown
Bossie        Horse    Black
Crackers      Bird     Green*
Flicka        Horse    Orange
Top Cat       Cat      Orange
Squeakers     Dog      Brown

* I can't just use the full table, because there are a lot of rows I don't want to pick up, like this one.

I need to somehow convert that data into a single sheet listing cats, dogs, and horses along with their other traits like color. I had the idea of adding another column to the first table which would tell the animal's actual type (pulled via lookup from the third table). Then I'd use that row to grab the animals one at a time. For instance:

  Type       Name          Final Type
  Dog        Fido          LOOKUP(Animals, Fido)
  Dog        Spot          LOOKUP(Animals, Spot
  Cat        Sprinkles     LOOKUP(Animals, Sprinkles)
  Cat        Tom           LOOKUP(Animals, Tom)
  Dog        Spike         LOOKUP(Animals, Spike)
  Horse      Mr. Ed        LOOKUP(Animals, Mr. Ed)
  Mammal     Bossie        LOOKUP(Animals, Bossie)
  Horse      Flicka        LOOKUP(Animals, Flicka)
  Mammal     Top Cat       LOOKUP(Animals, Top Cat)
  Mammal     Squeakers     LOOKUP(Animals, Squeakers)

I could then use that column to construct my subsets.
Dogs

find first(type=dog, start:end)   last row = row it was found on
find first(type=dog, last row)    last row
find first(type=dog, last row)    last row
find first(type=dog, last row)    last row

Until I've exhausted the possibilities (there will never be more than 15 dogs, so I can just search 15 times and leave blanks where needbe.

Unfortunately, the distinction between vlookup, hlookup, match, and index has me unsure which to use where.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.