Baking Soda

Is it safe to sprinkle a layer of baking soda on top or on the bottom of a litter box?

My two babies are growing now and their poop are getting much smellier now. I live in a tiny studio-type apartment and the smell can be strong at times. It helps if I open the windows but do not have it open at all times as I'm on the 9th floor and I'm afraid they might jump out.

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Yes, it's fine.  In fact, the litter deodorizer that Arm and Hammer sells is made up mostly of baking soda anyway.   

How many litter boxes do you have?  The rule of thumb is one for each cat plus one.  I understand that you live in a small apartment, but I hope you are able to have at least 2 boxes for them.  I have been known to sprinkle baking soda myself in the boxes, so I too am interested in the answer to your question.  I also scoop out the boxes at the very least one, (preferably  more) daily and throw the litter away once weekly, wash out the box and poor in fresh.   As far as the windows, I hope you have screens on those windows if you open them, and then only open a very tiny bit so there is no chance of pushing the screen out and falling.

I put baking soda in my litter before, I just tossed it in & then mixed it up really well

Plain baking soda is just fine. I'd avoid the heavily perfumed litter box deodorizers that pet stores sell. The perfum irritates many cats' noses and may even result in a cat not using the litter box at all.

You can open the windows just a crack, maybe no more than 2 inches to let air in and keep the cats inside.

What do you feed the cats? A poor quality diet often results in very smelly poop because the food isn't very digestible.

I think it's not really the poop but their urine. I scoop out the solids at least once a day and it's the ammonia like smell which hits hard (lol).

I feed them mostly with Royal Canine wet and dry food and with boiled chicken and fish.

I just added in plain baking soda with the cat litter and they haven't noticed anything different. 

Anima said:

I think it's not really the poop but their urine. I scoop out the solids at least once a day and it's the ammonia like smell which hits hard (lol).

I feed them mostly with Royal Canine wet and dry food and with boiled chicken and fish.

I just added in plain baking soda with the cat litter and they haven't noticed anything different. 

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@Anima

I think your kitty is not drinking enough water. You are feeding both dry and wet. Not sure if water is available for your cat. If water is not available or your cat doesn't drink, then the wet food he's eating is not enough to hydrate him. Then you have to add slightly more water into his wet food.
Take for example, if we do not drink enough water for the day, what color is our urine and what smell do you get? Do the maths :lol3:

If your cats haven't been spayed/neutered yet a change in the smell of their urine could be a sign that they've reached sexual maturity and need to be fixed. The smell of intact male cat's urine in particular is eye-watering. 

When you scoop the litter box spray the sides of the box with an enzyme cleaner and then dry it off with a paper towel. Some cats stand up to pee and you could be smelling the dried urine on the inside of the litter box.

Unneutered male urine reeks.  Get him fixed and the smell will be gone almost immediately.  Until then baking soda is fine but it's won't be a lot of help.

Oh yes, what @Norachan and @Catmom Marcia said is also true.

I do have trouble making them drink. Me and my girlfriend hand-reared these two since they were at least two-weeks old. We found them by a dumpster.  These were the first kittens we rescued at such a young age and we do not really know how to train them to drink. We have tried some methods we read online but they were not responding. We left water containers at various points around our place but they rarely drink most times they just smell it. We even tried kitten milk in place of water but same result.

We just found out one day they were drinking standing water on our bathroom. We left containers there and thankfully they were drinking from it but most times prefer the standing water from a leaky pipe. But I do think they're not drinking much as they should based on our older cats who lived with my girlfriend's parents.

And they are both girls i think they're at almost five months. Can they be spayed already at that age?

Baking soda kind of helped with the smell it's not that bad anymore or my nose is just dead already.

Yes, they can be spayed now. 5 months is the perfect age to get them fixed. They'll be having their first heat cycle soon, which usually leads to lots of yowling and spraying. You don't want that!

Have you tried getting them a water fountain to drink from? Some cats really like moving water.

Yeah its fine

"A thin layer of baking soda placed on the bottom of the box will help absorb odors without repelling your cat."

http://www.humanesociety.org/animals/cats/tips/preventing_litter_box_problems.html