Helping a rescued cat with a house move

My friend Margot has a rescued cat that, unfortunately, abused before Margot
got her. The cat has gradually come around but is still very uncomfortable
with any kind of change. Even just moving a piece of furniture around
disturbs the cat. Margot has just purchased a house and will be moving there
from her apartment in about a week and was asking me for advice about the
best way to do the move to minimize the stress on her cat.

Since I've never had to do a move with a cat, I suggested she ask on this
newsgroup but she's never really worked with newsgroups so I'm asking on her
behalf. I'll forward any replies to her as I see them.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Margot was wondering it it would be best
to put the cat in a local cat hospital (which also does boarding) for three
or four days until the move is complete? She could also keep the cat at the
new house during the move but would then have to confine her in a room for
the whole day while the movers bring things in so that the cat can't escape.
We were concerned that the cat might be very stressed - and also exposed to
germs and infections - at the cat hospital/boarding place. We are also
worried that leaving the cat confined in the new house during the move would
also be stressful; clearly, the cat would hear all the commotion and be very
aware that it was in a new place and was also confined, which surely
wouldn't help its stress levels.

I have to assume that many of the users of this newsgroup have had to move
house with cats so I'd like to get your best advice so that I can pass it on
to Margot.

--
Rhino