Just use an array and omit the IN()
clause. The manual (Complex Find Conditions) provides this example:
array('Company.status' => array('inactive', 'suspended'))
... which produces the following SQL:
`Company`.`status` IN ('inactive', 'suspended')
If $tot
is a string like 2345,5657,4565,5678
you'll need to explode() it first.
Disclaimer: This works in Cake 2, not sure about 1.2.